


Someday I'll Be Saturday Night

by oof_ouch



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: (probably), Alternate Universe - College/University, College AU, F/M, Fluff, Gen, I don't know what's gonna happen, I've tagged the relationships but I'll tag characters as they're introduced, It's gonna be fun though, Multi, Slow Burn, Vague Mentions of Abuse, but I'm trying my best, my knowledge about the topics involved is limited, they're all different types of nerds
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-02-25 17:16:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 29,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22139692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oof_ouch/pseuds/oof_ouch
Summary: A classic Reylo college AU, with inspiration taken from some good AU fics I've been reading.Between the guy who loves his cat too much and the guy who doesn’t love his family enough, the slew of Nights, and the disproportionate amount of sword fighting, Uni in America is shaping up to be something far, far, away from Rey’s expectations. She might be feeling like a Monday coming out of England, but someday she’ll be Saturday night.
Relationships: Armitage Hux & Phasma & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Finn & Rey (Star Wars), I don't know if I will include any background relationships, Kylo Ren/Rey, Leia Organa & Luke Skywalker & Han Solo, Poe Dameron & Finn & Rey & Rose Tico, Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey & Luke Skywalker, Rey & Rose Tico, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 12
Kudos: 47





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> What's good my guys! This is my first published fanfic, so hopefully it won't be a train wreck. Please tell me if you like it, if there are any grammatical errors, or if there are any inaccuracies in the content. I can't promise this will update regularly, but I'll try my best.
> 
> Shout out to my gorls, Megan and Isabella, for beta reading this!
> 
> ~~ flapdoodle

Rey’s new reality didn’t truly hit her until she stepped off the plane a week before classes started. Of course, she had been here before: visiting the campus, freshman orientation, and whatnot, but those times had felt very different from right now. She was finally going to stay and hopefully never have to leave.

Her phone vibrated as she made her way through the labyrinth of the airport. Dr. Skywalker had texted her with his location, so with the guidance of some signs Rey made her way to meet him.

“Rey! Over here!”

Rey turned to the source of the call, finding Dr. Skywalker waving at her next to a black sedan. She refused his help in loading her bag into the trunk.

“Is that all you’ve got?” he asked, watching her single backpack and carry on disappear into the trunk of his car.

“Yup. That’s it.” Rey started following him around to what she thought was the passenger’s side before remembering that people in the United States drove on the other side of the road. She quickly fixed her mistake and slipped into the actual passenger’s seat, fastening her seatbelt. “Thank you again for letting me stay with you until I can move onto campus, Dr. Skywalker.”

“Please, just call me Luke. And honestly, it’s no big deal. I consider you my protégée, if you will. You have a lot of potential and it’s only natural that I do anything I can to help you harness it. If letting you stay in my home is one way I can help you do that, that’s what I’ll do. It’ll be nice to have a guest for a few days.”

Rey nodded as Luke pulled onto the road leading away from the airport.

“If you ever need anything, feel free to come to me for help. You’ll also meet my sister and her husband eventually; I’m sure they’ll also be more than happy to provide you with any assistance.”

“Thank you, I don’t know how I’ll ever pay you back for all of this,” Rey replied, glancing back at Luke.

“Do well. Excel. Use your gifts as best you can. That’s all you need to do to thank me.”

“I won’t disappoint you.”

“I know you won’t, Rey.”

Ach To street wove through rolling fields and forests more lush than anything back in England. Luke’s house was dropped at the end of it, the nearest neighbor being a mile away and the school a forty-five minute drive. It was certainly peaceful there in the countryside, and though it reminded Rey of England a bit, it felt much more kind. She put her bags in the room Luke had given her, but she didn’t unpack completely as she knew that these were only temporary arrangements. In no time Rey would have a roommate her own age who would hopefully be somebody she would get along with and who Rey could watch cheesy movies with late at night when they both needed to destress. She could dare to dream, after all.

As Luke gave Rey a quick tour of the house, Rey noted that the most significant features were the big windows, piles of books everywhere, and the well-worn furniture. He then left her on her own to recuperate after the long flight. Rey did so by taking a long shower, a late lunch, and a nap.

\----------

The few days she passed in Luke’s home were over quickly. In mere moments, Rey would meet her roommate and her college experience would officially start.

Luke had again proven himself a kind man when he had taken her to some stores to pick up a few extra key items for her dorm, so a couple of extra bags accompanied the two she had stepped off the plane with. Once Rey had reached her door, she fussed with the key in the lock before opening the door to reveal that her roommate was already inside their small dorm.

The other girl immediately turn to face Rey. “Hi! I’m Rose Tico. I guess we’re going to be seeing quite a bit of each other from here on out, huh?” Rose was significantly shorter than Rey, with black hair pulled into a ponytail and a very round face.

“I guess we are. I’m Rey. I’m assuming that you’ve already claimed that bed?” Rey glanced back at the side of the room already strewn with fairy lights and Rose’s belongings as she made her way to dump her stuff on the other side of the room.

“I have. Though I do like your accent, where are you from?” Rose took a break from whatever she was doing to take a seat on her bed, facing Rey.

“England. A small town called Jakku.”

“Sounds nice.”

“It really wasn’t. I like here much more. They’re both pretty rural, but this place isn’t as…” Rey trailed off, unsure as to how much she wanted to divulge about her past to this girl she had just met. “I guess I don’t have any negative memories of here yet. Anyways, where are you from?”

“I’m from Nevada, right by Lake Tahoe. My town wasn’t very large either. But now we’re like, what, a few hours from New York City? Maybe one day we could take a weekend trip and go see a show on Broadway,” Rose mused.

“Oh, are you a fan of theatre?” Rey asked, transferring her clothes into the dresser that had come with the dorm.

“Am I ever! My bootleg collection is vast and my shrines to Lin Manuel-Miranda, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Stephen Sondheim will take up a significant portion of this wall. You’ve got the West End in London, are you big into theatre?”

“I’ve seen a couple of bootlegs, and recently I saved up to see Heathers on the West End. I don’t have any shrines, though,” Rey chuckled. Going to see Heathers was one of the few really good days she had had in her almost two decades in life. Treats like that happened once in a blue moon when living with her foster parent, so her memories of that day were treasured. “Are you majoring in something performing arts?”

“Who knows, if I sounded good to people other than myself I might be. But no, I’m majoring in my other passion, mechanical engineering.”

“I’m undecided, but that’s honestly one of the ones I’m considering. It can’t have worked out better that we’re roommates, huh?”

“It couldn’t have. I’m mostly done unpacking, but when you’re done do you want to go explore? Figure out the lay of the land? I’ve been in here for the last two hours and I need to stretch my legs,” Rose offered, hopping onto her feet.

“Sounds like a plan. I don’t know where the best place to enable a caffeine addiction is yet.”

“Neither do I. I guess that’s one of the things we’ll have to figure out.”

As Rose assembled her aforementioned composer shrines, Rey tried to unpack as quickly as she could. She had scored a roommate better than her wildest dreams had hoped for if their conversation already was any indicator. Their interests seemed to align and maybe they would find more over drinks. Rey had always heard that some people stayed friends with their college roommate for years afterwards, and maybe she and Rose would have that kind of relationship if Rey didn't mess things up. If nothing else, it was nice to already have a friend, if they could be called that this quickly.

An hour later, Rey and Rose were off on their first adventure. There were still plenty of hours of sunshine and they were both hungry, so their first course of action was to determine where to eat.

“I guess at some point we should try whatever’s in the dinner halls to see how good it is. Didn’t they have some Thai place?” Rose suggested as they walked along the edge of the quad. Old brick buildings looked out at a couple people playing frisbee on the grass.

“Sounds good to me. I’ve never really had Thai often since there wasn’t really a place for it where I used to live.” There weren’t really many “places” in such a small town. There were, however, a few nights when she had gone to bed hungry. That time was over now, though. Her life was different.

“Well, you’re in for a treat. You can’t go wrong with a classic pad Thai.”

Rose was right, you really couldn’t go wrong with a classic pad Thai. The chicken and the noodles together with the sauce combined into a wonderful flavor in Rey’s mouth. Even though Rose insisted that she had had better, the pad Thai surpassed most of the food Rey had eaten back home.

With their stomachs content, the girls continued on their walk, now straying slightly off campus in order to scope out a cafe they could potentially establish as a regular haunt.

Rose was checking her phone for coffee shops nearby. “The ones right next to campus will probably be consistently full, but there’s one that's slightly farther that seems promising. It’s a little more than five minutes off campus.”

“I have no complaints. Let’s go.”

Between the seven minutes it took to get from campus to the cafe and the rest of the time Rey had spent with Rose, she had gathered that the other girl was astute, bubbly, and passionate about the things she loved. Rey could respect that, as dedication to the things she enjoyed was one of the driving factors that had gotten her to the States in the first place. Rose was definitely somebody Rey wouldn’t mind spending more time with, which was good since they were roommates.

Before they entered, Rey took in the cafe as well. Cafe Alderaan looked cozy, with a warm brick facade, a hand painted front window welcoming returning students, and lots of plants. A bell rang as the girls walked in.

“Hi, what can I do ya for?” a cheerful barista asked.

“Hi, I’d like a…” Rose hummed for a moment, scanning the menu. “I’ll take a matcha latte.”

With more time to think, Rey quickly ordered an iced tea. After paying, she joined Rose at the table the other girl had found towards the front of the cafe.

“I thought that you English-folk thought tea not made traditionally was an affront to all teakind,” Rose teased after Rey had informed her of her drink choice.

“Some do. I’m just rational enough to know to not drink something hot when it’s warm and I’ve been outside.”

“Makes sense. Have you ever had matcha lemonade? It’s also quite refreshing. I wonder if they have it here.”

“I haven’t. Are you a matcha fan?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty healthy and the caffeine in it is better because it’s more sustained or something. Some people say it’s like drinking grass, but I like it. I hate the taste of actual coffee.”

“I’m mostly a tea drinker, but occasionally I do drink coffee if the caffeine content is higher and I need the extra boost.” After a few moments of waiting, Rey perked up when she heard their names called. There were a couple of other people in the cafe, but most of them were already in a group or positioned themselves in a way that said they didn’t want to be talked to. Rey assessed each person as she got up to get her drink. Nobody seemed particularly interesting.

They each took a sip of their own drink when they returned to their table.

“This is pretty good. Does yours live up to your matcha standards?” Rey asked, taking another sip.

“It does. It’s better than most of the chainy places that sell matcha lattes. I like this place.”

“So do I. We’ll have to come back, as long as it’s got free WiFi.”

Rose quickly checked. “Yup, we’ve got a connection. I’m sold.”

As Rey laughed, the bell rang again. She glanced towards the door and watched a red haired guy and a silver haired girl enter. They looked like their were arguing. Dismissing them, Rey turned back to Rose but her attention was soon recaptured by the ginger moments later, this time intentionally.

“Excuse me, that’s our table.” Ginger had stopped a short ways from the table. It looked as if he had spent a solid half hour doing his hair, but nothing else about him stuck out to Rey.

Rey stared at him. “Cool.”

“I would request that you relocate.”

“Literally half the cafe is free. Go somewhere else.” Rey really was not having this. After having been pushed around for most of her life, some pretentious twerp wasn’t going to keep up the pattern. She was starting fresh and she was going to stand up for herself. What threat could this guy pose, anyway?

“You must be new here, since nobody occupies our table while we’re here except us.”

“Too bad. You friend looks like she’s fine sitting somewhere else.” Rey pointed towards his companion, who had taken a seat at a booth towards the back of the cafe.

Ginger started to splutter. “Well, you see here, I will not stand for, this is utterly-”

“Hux! What are you doing? Get over here!” his silver haired friend said forcefully from across the cafe.

The guy, presumably Hux, turned to her. “But-”

“Shut up. Sit down. Nobody cares except you.”

Looking simultaneously indignant, scandalized, and hurt, Hux trudged back to his friend.

“That was like Ted threatening those people to get out of the booth on How I Met Your Mother, except this guy couldn’t overpower you. Nice job not backing down,” Rose commented.

“Thanks. He looked incredibly nonthreatening. Almost anybody could take a guy who maintains his hair that meticulously in a fight,” Rey stated. She had fought people much more intimidating, after all.

After about fifteen more minutes, their drinks finished, Rose and Rey got up to leave. Their exit coincided with the entrance of another guy, tall with dark hair. His eyes were just as dark and they flashed when they met with Rey’s. In a heartbeat, the moment had passed and Rey and Rose were out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yikes! There's burn in there, but is it slow? Probably, since as of present I don't intend on including Benny Boi in the next chapter, mostly because I don't know what I'm going to do with him and I've got more characters to introduce.
> 
> Be warned, next chapter I'll be shoehorning in my favorite OC. I'll do my best to make sure she's not annoying if you hate OCs, but I'll give a bit more info when the time comes.
> 
> Anyways, love you chicoritas! You deserve a (healthy?) snack and a glass of water for making it this far.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's good my guys! We're back at it again with chapter two, not an obscene amount of time after chapter one! Maybe we can make a habit of it, who knows.
> 
> Anyway, I know I promised a bit of info on my OC. Her name is Hysmine Oramata. She's technically a BNHA/MHA OC from some fics I've got stuffed in my drive (lmk if you want to see those), but I'm legally required to include her in all of my works. Thankfully, she's adaptable across universes. She's almost entirely here to further the plot since I didn't want to go through lists of Star Wars characters to find somebody else to fill her niche. Let it be known that she's not going to be making regular appearances or anything.
> 
> Coolio, thanks again to Megan and Izzo for beta-ing, and I hope you enjoy reading this!
> 
> ~~flapdoodle

Rey didn’t really have the opportunity to make any friends aside from Rose by the time her first college class ever rolled around, so she was faced with a sea of unfamiliar people when she entered the lecture hall. With no particular preference as to where to sit, Rey took a seat somewhere towards the end of the third row.

Another kid sat next to her soon before class started. “Excuse me, this is the lecture portion of general chemistry, right?”

Rey glanced to her side, giving the boy a quick once-over. “I believe so, unless we’re both wrong.” He had dark skin, seemed to be about her height sitting, and looked friendly enough. “I’m Rey.”

“Finn. Nice to meet you.”

They didn’t have the chance to talk more before somebody called the class to attention.

The teacher was young, so Rey figured that she might be a TA. Before the TA started her speech, she pinched the bridge of her nose as if to relieve the headache probably caused by her tight bun. “Greetings. I’m Hysmine Oramata. Pick one of those names and call me that. I’m a grad student in the Earth Science department. Why am I TA-ing this Chem class, then? It’s a long story. Don’t worry, I’m still qualified to teach this course. Anyways, here are some quick facts about me as an icebreaker or something. I’m a national champion in fencing and five types of martial arts. As such, I also run a drop-in self defense class that runs pretty much every week and a sparring club that normally meets once a month. It’s not ‘fight club,’ it’s sparring club. Yes, there is a difference, my club is school-sanctioned and very regulated. If any of you want to join in, talk to me or refer to the advertisements around campus. You may be wondering, how do I have time for all of this? I don’t. Cool talk, let’s get started. Based on the fact that this is an entry level course on the first day, I’m going to assume that you don’t know how to pull up the online syllabus. We’ll start with that.”

Even though Oramata, as Rey decided to call her, seemed perpetually exhausted and the inflection of her voice could probably be described as “tired,” she still managed to be pretty entertaining and she seemed like a genuinely interesting person. Oramata told them that the actual professor would probably stop in now and again for the lecture portion as well as run most of the lab portion of the class, but otherwise Oramata was in charge.

“Those self-defense classes sound like fun. I’ll have to look into when those are,” Rey mentioned to Finn as they began to pack up their things. “Where are you going next?”

“I think it’s some English course, probably 101?” Finn said as he slung his bag over his shoulder.

“I’m pretty sure that’s what I have too, actually. Care to walk together?”

“Sure, why not?”

Rey felt like she clicked with Finn even faster than she had with Rose. Despite the walk to the English building being short, it felt like they talked for hours. Through their conversation, Rey learned that Finn was a major in psychology (he wanted to help people), from Baltimore (he wouldn’t have left if he had liked or gotten into any of the colleges in the city), and graduated as valedictorian of his high school (he was very humble about this fact). Rey told him that she was undecided (she liked a bit of everything), from England (she never wanted to go back), and was accepted here after Luke Skywalker had essentially recruited her following a strange series of events (she didn’t want to go into depth about it).

Professor Holdo’s English class had a very different feel to it than Oramata’s Chemistry lecture. Holdo was certainly more strict and formal, even though she did not look the part with her purple hair. However, she seemed more into the content of the class. It made sense, since Oramata’s actual area of expertise wasn’t chemistry.

Since the rest of her classes had managed to pile up in the afternoon, Rey decided to take an early lunch with Finn. After comparing the rest of their schedules, they figured that having lunch together might become a regular occurrence. Afterwards, they would go their separate ways before meeting up again for Calculus II later in the day.

Even though they had beaten the lunch rush, Rey and Finn found that the dining hall was still pretty crowded.

“What do you have a taste for?” Finn asked as they stared at the different options available to them.

“Great question, and one I don’t have an answer for yet.” Rey frowned slightly, wondering how good spaghetti and meatballs sounded. Of course it sounded good, but did it match another pad Thai?

“Well, while you decide, I’m gonna go get something. Want me to grab a table after I’m done?”

“Sure.”

Rey eventually got in line to get some pasta. She reasoned that if she ate too much pad Thai now she would come to hate it later, but a smaller voice in her head told her that pad Thai would forever remain on the pedestal of Rey’s favorite foods no matter how often she had it.

Joining Finn at the table he had sat at, Rey was distracted from wondering if the spaghetti was a mistake and the what-ifs of having gotten pad Thai instead by Finn asking her a question.

“So, you said that you were still undecided, right? What have you been considering?”

“Mostly between mechanical engineering or something English related. Then occasionally I’ll be like, oh, I want to go into women’s studies or poli sci! Those little diversions last a couple days at most, but I’m still taking a pretty broad range of classes to see if I find anything else I like.”

“Cool. What English-y thing are you thinking of?”

“I don’t really want to go into teaching, so I don’t know what I would do specifically, but I really like the Greek classics and creative writing. If I go down that route I might become a writer or something.”

“Sounds like fun. I better get signed copies of your books.”

“We’ll see," Rey teased. "What do you want to do with your psychology degree?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’ll go further and get a Master’s in criminal psychology. I know that psychology is what I want to do, I just don’t know exactly what I want to do with it. I’ll figure it out, though.” Finn stabbed at his food again.

“If you turn into a therapist, I’ll want a free half hour session for every signed book I get you. I’ve got some issues I should probably work through,” Rey said, only half-joking.

\----------

Rey could confidently call her first week of college a success. She had secured two friends, Rose and Finn, she liked all of her classes, and she had a meeting with Luke in a couple of hours. Deciding that she deserved a break, she curled up on her bed with her well-worn anthology of ancient Greek plays.

Just as she was getting into her favorite part of The Frogs, Rey heard the pounding of footsteps coming from outside her dorm. Whoever was running down the hallway was in a hurry, but Rey knew that going out to investigate might get her involved in whatever was going on. She didn’t need that kind of negative energy in her life at the moment, so Rey stayed put.

The person didn’t. The footsteps were getting close, and very quickly. Within a minute, somebody was pounding on her door after a few moments of resolutely trying to open it.

“Let me in! Hux, you can’t do this! Open the door and we can discuss this in a civil fashion or some BS! Open the door!”

Well, Rey was certainly not that pretentious ginger she had met at the Alderaan Cafe, so obviously the guy pounding on her door had the wrong dorm. With a sigh, Rey got up to look through the peephole.

The guy outside was red with the effort of running all the way here from wherever he had started, but he didn’t look like he would end up hurting her if she opened the door to explain that he wasn’t where he wanted to be.

Rey tentatively opened the door. “Hey, I think that-”

She was rudely interrupted when the guy pushed in past her, just to stop suddenly.

“This isn’t my room.” He whipped around to look at her. “What room number is this?”

“514.”

“I’m on the wrong floor. I’m on the wrong floor, I’m on the wrong floor, and BB is gonna get reported by that fleabag Hux and he’s gonna get taken away and I’m going to get fined a lot of money that I don’t have. I have to go, sorry!” With that, he bolted back out of the room.

Her interest piqued, Rey couldn’t help but follow him out despite her earlier decision to not get involved. After closing the door behind her and following the sound of running, she found him waiting for the elevator.

“You know, it might be faster to take the stairs,” she suggested, watching the man spiral before her.

“You’re right. Hux would never take the stairs. Then I could keep BB and all of his stuff in the stairwell until I figure out what to do from there. Are you allergic to cats?” the guy asked, suddenly turning back to her.

“No?”

“Cool. Come with me, I’ll need your help to speed this up.”

With nothing better to do, Rey followed Cat Guy down two flights of stairs and through the hallways of the floor below Rey's to get to the room that would be beneath hers. The situation was beginning to make sense: Cat Guy, in his hurry, had pressed the wrong elevator button and gone to what he had thought was his room but was in fact Rey’s. All the floors were essentially identical, so the mistake was justified.

Rey didn’t see the cat immediately after entering Cat Guy’s surprisingly neat dorm, but she did see a litter box and a few stray toys.

“BB? Where are you?” Cat Guy called, scanning the room.

Instantly, an orange and white cat with stubby little legs came puttering out from underneath one of the beds. The cat went directly to Rey, rubbing against her legs. She bent down and pet it, BB purring in satisfaction.

“He seems to like you already. I don’t think I ever got your name, though, which is kinda rude after I barged in on your dorm,” Cat Guy said, gathering all evidence that a cat lived in the dorm into a large bag.

“I’m Rey. Who’re you?”

“The name’s Poe. Can you get BB-8 to the stairwell and keep him there until I can get all of his stuff there? It’s easier to lie about having a cat if there isn’t one in the vicinity.”

“Got it.” With that, Rey scooped up BB, who didn’t seem to mind, and made sure there wasn’t anybody walking by before stealing out of Poe’s dorm.

It wasn’t hard to smuggle BB to the stairs since he seemed to be a pretty docile cat. Rey decided it was best to hold on to him in case he decided he wanted to run away, so she sat down with him in her lap. Content with her scratches, BB curled up and closed his eyes.

“You’ve got him? Great. Now, the only question is where he could stay for a couple of days until the Hux threat blows over,” Poe muttered, joining Rey on the landing a minute or two later.

“What is the Hux threat? Hux is that one ginger, right?” Rey asked. “Snobby? Friends with that silver haired girl?”

“That’s the one. I got wind that he had found out about BB and that he was planning on busting me today, like, an hour ago. We mutually hate each other, and reporting my technically illegal cat to the dean or something is definitely one way to get at me. That led me to rush here at the soonest opportunity, and you know the rest.”

“And now you need to figure out where to keep BB until Hux is over it, right? Do you have any friends living off campus?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out. There’s these guys that I know, Artoo and Threepio, and they would definitely take BB for a couple of days. I’ll text them and hope they’re not out of town or something.” Poe proceeded to take out his phone and type out a message, looking up after hitting send. “Why don’t we get BB and his stuff into my car, huh? Then we won’t be caught in the dorms with him.”

“Sure. You need BB in your car to get him off campus either way. Let’s go,” Rey agreed, lifting BB into her arms and carefully standing up.

Poe led Rey through a parking lot to a black sedan that was certainly a few ranks below Luke’s. Poe’s car seemed like the kind of thing he would drive, though. A few years old, a little dinged up, but otherwise well-loved. After Poe had opened the door for her, Rey let BB down onto the back seat. When she stepped away, Poe put BB-8’s bed next to the cat, prompting BB to curl back up on it and fall asleep.

“Thank any and all gods looking out for me, they can take care of BB for a couple of days,” Poe sighed in relief after checking the message he had apparently received. “Thank you for all of your help, Rey. I won’t force you to come with me, you’ve already done so much to help me and I’m sure you’ve got stuff to do. I’ll probably end up seeing you around the dorms, though.”

“Yeah, it was no problem, really. I do expect to have permission to visit BB after this is all over. I’ll leave you to it now, though. Bye, Poe.”

“You’ve got it. See you later, Rey.” With that, Poe got into his car and pulled out of the parking lot.

Thinking that she should get the cat hair off of her clothes before going to see Luke, Rey made her way back to her own dorm room. Between Poe the Cat Guy, Rose the Theatre Nerd, and Hux the Annoying Prick, Rey decided that college was certainly full of some interesting people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finn and Poe join the battle!
> 
> I'll see all of you beautiful chicoritas next chapter. You deserve a full eight hours of sleep for making it this far.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're back at it again for another chapter for your reading pleasure. Plus, it hasn't been too long! Maybe I'll find a writing rhythm or something and discover the secrets of regular uploading. Thanks again to the gorls for beta reading!
> 
> ~~ flapdoodle

Rey was a comfortable five minutes early to tea. Luke had told her to go to the President’s House, which she assumed to mean that she was going to officially meet Luke’s sister and her husband. As such, Rey had decided to dress a little nicer than usual, with a tan jacket over a white shirt and blue jeans.

Rey rang the doorbell and waited mere seconds before the door was flung open by an older man with white hair. Rey immediately recognized him as Professor Han Solo, the instructor of her mechanical engineering lab class.

“It’s Rey, right? I’m Han,” he said, extending his hand. Rey took it. It was rough after working with machines for who knew how long; some of her callouses were in the same spots as his. “Come on in, make yourself at home.”

The President’s House was large and comfortable, something she had never experienced from any of her own living conditions. As Rey followed Han through the house, she admired the tasteful decorations and personal touches: frames filled with pictures of smiling people, artwork depicting mountain landscapes, and well-loved furniture. Eventually, they came to a sunroom looking out over the backyard where Luke and President Organa sat, laughing.

“There you are. Rey, I take it Han already introduced himself to you. This is my sister, Leia Organa, president of this fine establishment of higher learning,” Luke said, gesturing to the proper-looking woman sitting next to him. President Organa commanded respect, with her greying hair wrapped around her head in elegant braids and her posture that of a queen.

Rey extended a hand to her. “It’s nice to meet you, President Organa.”

“You can call me Leia, dear. It’s nice to meet you too,” the lady said while taking Rey’s hand. Leia’s hand was soft, probably recently moisturized, but her grip was firm. “It’s nice to have another woman around. Those two men are oafs.” 

Leia’s words prompted indignant outbursts from both of the so-called oafs.

Rey chuckled, nerves mostly appeased, before taking a seat on the other side of the couch Luke was sitting on.

“So, you’re in the hot seat now, kiddo,” Han started, rubbing his hands together. “What classes are you taking? You’re in one of my mechanical engineering classes, right?”

“I am. My schedule is mostly just core classes and prerequisites for a major in mechanical engineering or something English-related. I am taking this anthropology course as an elective, though, and it’s pretty interesting so far.”

Seeing Luke and Han bloom with pride at the idea that their disciplines were the ones Rey was considering committing to, Leia laughed. “Follow your heart, dear, but don’t choose something just to stroke their egos. They’re already big enough. Anyway, would you like something to drink? I know that Luke said that this was tea, but we have other things if you want.”

“Tea sounds lovely, thank you.” Rey watched as Leia poured a cup of tea from the teapot on the coffee table. Rey noted that the tea set had the same tasteful yet homey feel as the rest of the house: painted purple flowers circled the middle of the teapot and below the lip of the cup Leia handed to her. Taking a sip, Rey was pleased to find that the tea was the perfect temperature and had a pleasant floral taste. She cradled her drink in her lap as she listened to Leia, Luke, and Han argue playfully.

It was clear to see how close they all were, and Rey couldn’t help but feel a little hope that she would someday have relationships like that.

“I would absolutely never do such a thing!” Han claimed, affronted at whatever Luke had said.

“Well, I was there, and I saw you do it,” Luke shrugged, stifling a smile. He began to stroke his beard, making him look like a wizened old mage. “You ruined game night. I will never play Monopoly again. You cheat more than Chewie.”

“No, nobody can cheat more than Chewie can. I, on the other hand, play by the rules,” Han said matter-of-factly.

“Who’s Chewie?” Rey asked, a little confused at the turn the conversation had taken.

“Oh, he’s my oldest and closest friend and the best engineer over at Millennium Industries. I retired from there a couple of years ago, but my wife dragged me out of retirement with a teaching position, and, well, here we are,” Han shrugged. “Speaking of Chewie, we should invite him to our next game night. Rey, do you want to come, too?”

“It sounds like fun. Tell me when and I’ll probably be able to come,” Rey agreed, glad that they liked her well enough to invite her to their game night and that she would get to spend more time with them, too.

“It’s not fun when Chewie cheats and you can’t call him out on it because you’re scared he’ll tear you limb for limb,” Luke grumbled, prompting a chuckle from Rey.

“Luke, if you really care that much, we’ll play something that’s harder to cheat at than Monopoly, like Clue or - wait, no, we can’t play Scrabble because you always win,” Leia corrected.

“That’s why you should be an English major, Rey. You could be the undefeated Scrabble champ,” Luke grinned.

“Noted. I’m always a big fan of Codenames,” Rey said, finishing her tea.

“I don’t think we have that, but I’ve been meaning to add some more games to our collection. I’ll look into it,” Leia mused. “I’m sure that if you like it, it’ll be good.”

The trust Leia had in Rey’s judgement made Rey feel honored. She would do her best to make sure that it wasn’t misplaced.

“Do you think Ben will want to come, too? If he and Rey haven’t met before game night, it would be a good opportunity to introduce them,” Luke asked, reaching over to the teapot to refill his cup.

“I’ll make sure he knows about it,” Leia replied with a sigh. “I hope he’ll come, but I bet he’ll just say that he has something to do for Snoke again. I know that he wants independence and a bit of distance, but I wish he would stop trying to cut us out completely.”

“Wait, so is Ben your son?” Rey asked.

“Yes, he’s going to school here. I don’t know why when he got accepted into a bunch of prestigious schools far away from here. You’ll probably see him in the math building since he likes to spend time with the math department head, Badar Snoke,” Han explained.

“I would fire him if I had a solid enough reason,” Leia spat. Leia wasn’t even showing her full disgust and anger, but she was still terrifying. “He’s a good department head, but I don’t like being around him. There’s something about him that gives me a bad feeling.”

“Well, if I see Ben around, I’ll forcibly drag him to game night,” Rey offered.

Luke laughed at that. “I don’t doubt it for a second. Of all people, I’m sure that you can turn him from the math side with your love of English.”

“Don’t forget, she loves mechanical engineering, too,” Han interjected.

From there, the conversation shifted to the dispute over whether engineering or English was the superior discipline. Rey paid their arguments half a mind; what she heard could be useful in determining which of the two she wanted to do.

Leia shook her head as she watched to two men argue. “I can’t believe you would want to spend that much time with either of them.”

“It’s endearing, I suppose.”

“After you’ve spent this many years putting up with them, it’ll be less endearing,” Leia assured Rey.

“You love us, though,” Han said, putting his bickering with Luke on hold.

“I’m not sure why.” Leia sighed before smiling again with a teasing chuckle.

It just reignited Rey’s desire for relationships like these. Friends that she could talk forever with, never tire of, tease and be teased by. Maybe this would be the place she would find some of those relationships. Maybe Finn or Rose would turn out to be friends like these.

“Anyways, have you spent much time in town, Rey?” Luke asked.

“Not a whole lot, I haven’t had much opportunity to go out. I have checked out a couple of places, like the Alderaan Cafe.”

“Oh, I love that place! I don’t go that often anymore, but they have the best muffins,” Leia said.

“There’s this one bookstore, it’s called Dagobah. It’s not too far from there, but you should check it out when you get the chance,” Luke advised. “I’m friends with the guy who owns it. You might think he’s a bit weird at first, but he’s strangely knowledgeable about everything. If he gives you advice, you’d better listen to it.”

“I’ll add it to my to-do list,” Rey said, nodding as she made a mental note. _Go to Dagobah._

“Wanna know where you should really go? There’s a great bar called The Cantina,” Han grinned.

Leia swatted at her husband. “Han, she’s probably not legally allowed to drink yet!”

“I’m not, but I’ll keep it in mind in a couple of years,” Rey smiled, enjoying the bickering that was stereotypical of an old married couple.

“They’ve got a really good Miami Vice,” Luke stage-whispered to her, leaning over and using his hand to hide his mouth from Leia sitting on the other side of the coffee table.

“Don’t encourage her, Luke!”

“They can make them without alcohol, too!”

“It doesn’t matter, just stop,” Leia said, frustrated at her brother.

“I’ll be responsible, don’t worry,” Rey assured with a laugh.

“That might change after spending too much time with these oafs.”

“Oh, so we’re oafs again?” Han grinned, nudging his wife with a shoulder.

“You never stopped being oafs.”

When Rey finally excused herself and left half an hour later, she did so with a smile splitting her face. She could get used to spending time with the three of them.

\----------

Rey got a notification as she was getting ready for bed later that day.

_Luke Skywalker_  
I hope you had a good time today! Game night is next week at 6:00 pm, Leia will insist on feeding you dinner so don’t eat beforehand.

_Me_  
I had a great time, and I should be there unless anything major comes up beforehand. See you then!

Glad that she had something to look forward to in the coming days, Rey tucked herself into bed with a sense of contentment that only grew with the days she spent in America.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow we actually heard Ben's name, 6,000 words in. Their official meeting should be coming up soon, but actually planning the story is for chumps so I don't know when it's gonna happen.
> 
> Anyways, love you chicoritas! You deserve a warm hug for making it this far.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yikes guys, it's been a hot minute. Sorry about that. This chapter didn't come earlier since I was super busy pre-coronavirus and I was also working on another project. Now that everything is on lock down, chapters will hopefully be coming more frequently again!
> 
> To apologize, this chapter is slightly longer than normal.
> 
> Shout out to the gorls again for beta-ing, and I hope you enjoy Chapter 4!
> 
> ~~flapdoodle

If Rey was being honest, she knew almost immediately that her least favorite class was her Intro to Electrical Engineering course. She knew that it was important knowledge for going into mechanical engineering, but it didn’t feel like it. It just felt like a complete and utter waste of her time.

She was voicing this to Rose as they were walking along the edge of the quad, soaking up some sunshine before winter’s perpetual overcast blocked it out. Rose didn’t know how awful it was to never see the sun for four months coming from Lake Tahoe. England, on the other hand, had made Rey very familiar with cloudy days and vitamin D deficiency. Cloudy days were more bearable than Intro to Electrical Engineering, though, because she knew that the sun was bound to come out eventually. The end of the semester and thus the end of the course seemed like an impossibility.

Rose, on the other hand, found the course incredibly enjoyable. Rey did not understand how her roommate did it, but Rey desperately tried to learn in order to make the class more bearable while it was being shoved down her throat.

“Most systems are electrical as opposed to mechanical, especially in this day and age. The stuff I want to end up working on heavily relies on electricity. Even if the projects you want to do aren’t the same as mine, the machines with electrical systems tend to be a lot more fun. You’re not about to go around designing new lawnmower engines, right?” Rose asked. Rey nodded along, only partially following along. “Right. If you don’t understand how it works and how to be safe around it, you’ll never get to do the fun stuff. Oh, and because the fun stuff relies on electrical systems, that makes the electrical systems fun, right?”

“That sounds like a logical fallacy,” Rey frowned.

“Pretty sure it’s not.”

“That’s what all fallacious people say.”

Rose just shook her head and laughed.

“I’m going to look it up. I’m serious,” Rey said, already on her phone. She scrolled through the results for “types of fallacies” until finding a link that didn’t seem too sketchy. “I think that that could be considered circular reasoning. Or, like, a fallacy of division? I used up all of my brainpower during Chem this morning.”

“Yeah, that’s what you were taking for your science requirement. How’s it going?”

“Well enough. I like the TA who runs it, Oramata. I think she’s having one of her self-defense and combat basics classes on Monday, and I’ve heard that she scopes out people who she thinks might be good for her fight nights there, too. I wanna go, do you want to come with me?”

“When on Monday?” Rose asked. “I’ve got classes most of the afternoon.”

“It’s from two to three-thirty,” Rey replied, recalling one of the informational posters she had seen.

“Yeah, I’ve got my stupid anatomy elective then. You’ll have to go without me,” Rose sighed. “Otherwise, I’d love to.”

“Really? Finn couldn’t go either, so it looks like I’m going solo.”

“Oh, who’s Finn?” Rose asked, giving Rey a teasing side-eye.

“He’s a friend of mine, not whatever you might be implying. We’re in a lot of the same core courses. I’ll have to introduce you two. Wait, actually, we’re getting dinner tonight. Do you want to come with?”

“I mean, I don’t have anything better to do. Would he be fine with that?”

“I’ll text him right now.” Rey pulled out her phone and tapped out a quick message to Finn.

He replied almost immediately with an enthusiastic yes, on the condition that he could also bring his roommate.

“Looks like we’ll be a party of four, Rose. Us two, Finn, and his own roommate,” Rey said, putting her phone back in her pocket and glancing at her friend.

“Sounds like it’ll be a blast. I’ve got something that ends at five, though, so when and where is it? I’ll probably have to meet you there and find the table you’re at.”

“Five-thirty at this Mexican place Finn found called Burritamigo? Supposedly it’s really good and a three minute walk off campus.”

“Great, I’ll see you there. Wait, the thing I have starts in like, fifteen minutes. Shoot, I gotta split so I can go get ready for it. I’ll see you there!” Rose waved as she started sprinting back towards their dorm.

Rey, on the other hand, had about an hour and a half to kill and a beautiful day. Perhaps she would continue her walk around town, come back to clean up, and then head towards the restaurant. 

Yes, that sounded lovely.

Rey had only been to town a handful of times, so she was still getting familiar with the area. As such, she decided that the best way to explore would just be to wander and to go where there were walk signs. The buildings were in proud, straight rows, a contrast to the crooked streets of Jakku.

Another thing that America had was Walgreens. Allegedly, Walgreens was like Boots except you could only find Walgreens at a corner. Rey thought that this was an inconvenient business strategy as there was no real benefit to having exclusively corner stores and there are significantly more non-corner units to move into. Perhaps the Americans had just accepted it, and she would too, in time. Rey had gone into the one off campus with Rose when her roommate had needed toothpaste and Rey had needed an adventure.

They had come back with toothpaste and a pint of ice cream. Pharmacies selling ice cream was an exponentially better business strategy than being corner-exclusive.

She hadn’t realized how far she had walked, lost in her own thoughts, until she realized that she had basically reached the end of the little downtown. There was a lone building that her feet had just seemed to have drawn her to, low and made of a darker brick than the rest of the nearby buildings. The front window was covered by blinds or drapes or something of the sort, but light emanated from the window on the door. Rey glanced up to read the shop sign.

_Dagobah Books_

Huh, that was the one bookstore Luke had told her about, wasn’t it? There was no harm in stopping inside. There weren’t any posted hours, but the door opened when she pulled on it.

The bell attached to the doorframe signalled her arrival.

She didn’t see anybody when she scanned the store. Even if there had been somebody, view of them would be blocked by the crammed bookshelves and piles of books. It looked more like Luke’s house than any of the bookstores Rey had been to before.

Curious, she moved deeper into the store.

Upon closer examination, she realized that there was a certain method to the madness and was able to find the classics section with a bit of trial and error. She was skimming the titles, looking for one she hadn’t read, when she heard a voice coming from behind her.

“Looking for something, are you?” a little old man asked her. He must have only been half of her height, with big ears and a friendly smile. Rey immediately felt as if she was with a grandparent, even though she had never met her own.

“No, just browsing. Is this your store?” Normally, Rey would never maintain conversation with shopkeepers, but something urged her to keep talking to the man.

“Yes, is it. Looking for something, you are. Feel it, I can.”

Rey couldn’t tell if he was pulling her leg, looking for business, or had some sort of trick knee that was telling him secrets.

“Let you look, I will. Find on your own, you must.”

“Thanks, Mr…?”

“Yoda, call me.”

With that, he puttered away.

Rey turned back to the books on the shelf. While the front of the store was well-lit, the further back she went, the darker it became. The lamplight that reached her was just enough to glint on gold-embossed spines and allow her to read the books’ titles.

One caught her eye. She had already read Euripides’s “Orestes,” but it had been a while. Rey still decided to move on to a different section of the store to see if there was anything else that might be of interest.

Rey found herself amongst another row of twilit shelves, but she couldn’t place a genre for the books that filled the aisle. A couple titles seemed interesting, but she didn’t know if any of them were worth buying. _The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe_ was especially tempting; Rey hadn’t read the Narnia Chronicles yet, but it might be something light to go to after a long day of studying. She decided to take the book with her as she continued to explore the store in case she did end up wanting to buy it.

Yoda snuck up on her again as she was making her way out of the mysteries. “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, you have. Good one, it is. Feel I that you also want this, hmm?” he said, offering her the copy of “Orestes” she had seen earlier. “Ignore feelings, you must not.”

Rey was admittedly a little spooked that Yoda had been able to tell that she had been considering it. She took the book from him, pinning her other find under her elbow, and ran her fingertips over the matte cover. “Yeah, I was thinking about it, how did you know?”

“An inkling, I had,” Yoda laughed. “That it might help you, I believe.”

“Help me how?”

“Know I do not. Know I only that it will.”

“I see.” Rey nodded absently, even though she did not see. Yoda was not making a whole lot of sense. “I just don’t know if I have enough money on me for both.” She had only brought enough money with her for one of them at most; she hadn't planned on buying anything today.

“Have to pay, you do not. A gift from me it is. More valuable to you, they are, than me. Them, please, take.”

“Are you sure?” Rey asked, though she was not planning on insisting too hard on paying for the books.

“Yes. Read C.S. Lewis first, you should,” Yoda smiled knowingly. “Too, become a warrior, you will. Look to those warriors around you, you must. Take you far, it will.”

“Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind, and I’ll be back,” Rey promised, trying to appease the old man, while beginning to make her way back towards the warmly-lit front of the store.

“You will, I know.” Yoda waved as she left his store, new books in hand.

Rey knew that she should certainly not forget the words of the old man if Luke’s advice was anything to go by. However, she couldn’t immediately discern their meaning as she made her way back to her dorm. Was he talking about the self-defense class? Was there somebody there she was meant to meet? A role model she was supposed to find? Or was she taking warrior too literally and it was really about some sort of activist or something?

Rey traded her shirt for a cleaner one, redid her ponytail, and made sure she had enough money for dinner before heading back out the door, still pondering Yoda's words. She was forced to put it to the side when she got to Burritamigo.

Finn was standing facing her direction, talking to a guy turned with his back to her. Rey waved at Finn as she approached, catching Finn’s attention. He waved enthusiastically back, prompting the guy that was presumably his roommate to turn around.

To both of their surprises, it was Poe, the cat guy.

“Cat guy!” Rey grinned. “Did you sort everything out with that?”

“Whoa, you guys already know each other?” Finn said, eyes widening.

“Yeah, remember when I was talking about that girl who helped me get BB-8 out of the dorm? That’s her. I forgot your name, though, which is why I didn’t make this connection sooner. But yeah, the whole situation blew over and the cat’s back. Wasn’t your roommate supposed to show up?” Poe asked as he turned to Rey.

“Yeah, she said that she had a thing that ended at five, so she’ll be a few minutes late. Want me to ask her if she wants us to grab a table or wait for her?”

“Sure, go ahead,” Finn said.

_Me_  
Want us to grab a table or wait for you?  
_Rose Tico_  
Go ahead, I’ll be there in five  
_Me_  
Great see you soon

Slipping her phone back into her pocket, Rey looked back up at the guys. “Rose’ll be here in five but she said we can go on in,” she reported.

Burritamigo was, as one would guess from the name, pretty friendly. The walls were blue and yellow, but they made it work. Rey, Finn, and Poe were seated at a table by a window looking out on the street, a good view for people watching. The menu was full of what Rey gathered to be Mexican staples; she was able to recognize tacos and burritos, but the lack of Mexican restaurants in England left her lost when she got to dishes like enchiladas and empanadas.

“They just give you a bowl of tortilla crisps instead of bread or something?” Rey asked, awed.

“First off, you’re in America so you’ll call them chips before you get beat up in a back lot or something. Second off, yes, they do that. If you somehow manage to not ruin your appetite by eating too many of them, I will hail you as some sort of goddess,” Poe informed her. “Oh, and you better not call fries chips. That’ll also get you beat up in a back lot.”

“I’ve been in my fair share of fights in car parks, so your threats don’t scare me. They are crisps because they are crispy, and you won’t change my mind on that.”

“In America there’s only parking lots, so your skills will be worthless,” Finn said. “It’s a lot for parking. When you say car park it sounds like a place where there’s a jungle gym for cars. If we apply this to the universe of the Cars movies, that would be true, and parking lot would be the appropriate term for the lot where you park. As such, parking lot is the correct term.”

“Whatever, I’m not going to argue with you. Anyways, there’s Rose!” Rey said, waving to try and catch Rose’s attention.

Rose slid into the empty seat at the table, offering a greeting. “Hey guys! I’m Rose, who’re you?”

“I’m Finn, and that’s Poe,” Finn said.

“Hi.” Poe gave a friendly wave before grabbing a chip and dunking it in salsa.

“Nice to meet you two,” Rose said as she grabbed the extra menu. “The menu looks good, nice choice.”

“I’m having a hard time making a decision. What’s an empanada? They sound tasty,” Rey asked, silently hoping she wouldn’t be judged for her lack of knowledge.

“They’re kinda like calzones, except instead of being like pizza they’re like tacos. I think they’re best with beef fillings, but that’s just my opinion,” Poe explained.

“Taco amigo or burrito amigo? Decisions, decisions…” Finn muttered.

“The flautas are looking good. Those are like taquitos, if you’ve ever had those,” Rose said.

“I’ve had taquitos, just not often enough.”

“Taco, we’ve got that crunch factor. Unless they don’t do hard shells,” Finn continued.

“Honestly, I could probably live off of taquitos. They’ve got most of the main food groups, so it’s not impossible. I could dip them in salsa or guac to get my veggies in,” Poe added.

“But burritos are hefty. I could probably stick leftovers in the minifridge for tomorrow. But saving one taco would be great for a midnight snack. Man, the struggle doesn’t end. Either way, I’m also getting rice and beans by making it an amigo, so that would increase my heft factor for the tacos. But it would also augment it for the burrito,” Finn rambled, gradually becoming the center of attention.

“Dude, want me to flip a coin?” Rey asked.

“Yeah, that’d be great.”

“Do you always overthink things this much?” Rose asked as Rey grabbed a coin from her wallet.

“Heads, burrito. Tails, taco. And…” Rey flipped the coin. “Tails.”

“Great, that’s the one I wanted. Fate has only reinforced my decision.”

Soon enough, the waitress came to take their orders.

“I’ll have the taco amigo with chicken.”

“Empanadas with beef, please.”

“I’ll take the chicken flautas, and if there’s any sauce put it on the side please.”

“And I’ll have a steak burrito with street corn on the side,” Poe finished.

As the waitress retreated, Rose broached the table with a topic of conversation. “So, what are you guys studying?”

“My major is psychology and I’m minoring in German,” Finn said.

“I’m in aerospace engineering. I come from a long line of pilots, astronomers, all the other occupations dealing with the sky and space. I already know how to fly a plane and I love travelling but being a pilot seems like I would be too uprooted, so I decided on working on the planes themselves. I’ve been doing it for three years and I’ve really been enjoying it. Oh, and I’m working on a minor in astrophysics,” Poe explained, leaning back in his chair nonchalantly while crossing his arms.

“That’s pretty neat. So you’re a junior?” Rose asked.

“Yup. Dunno how I got stuck in a dorm with a freshman, but it’s fine since Finn’s cool.”

“Wow, such high praise. Thanks, man.”

“Anytime. What’re you doing, Rose?”

“Oh, I’m doing mechanical engineering, minoring in visual and performing arts.” Rose made to grab another chip, but found that the basket was empty.

It was astounding how that happened. Rey hadn’t even recognized she had been eating the tortilla chips until she realized that she felt less hungry than she had been ten minutes ago.

“I thought you said you weren’t doing anything theatre related?” Rey wondered.

“I said I wasn’t majoring in anything theatre related. And visual and performing arts is more about the analysis and communication, kinda, so it’s not technically theatre.”

“I guess I’ll take it. Anyways, I’m undeclared but I’m deciding between English and mechanical engineering,” Rey said.

“Wait, English? Did you meet the President yesterday with Luke Skywalker?” Poe asked, suddenly invested. “Yeah, that was you. You’re really getting around, my guy.”

“Yeah, how’d you know?” Rey said, furrowing her eyebrows.

“I’ve known Leia since I was little because I used to be friends with her son, so I was talking to her yesterday when I saw her walking around and she brought it up. I actually cross paths with Ben quite a bit since my minor is his major.”

“She mentioned something about a Ben yesterday. I think I need to bring him to Game Night on Friday,” Rey recalled. She didn’t know who would be such an ungrateful excuse of a human being to need to be dragged to Game Night when the Skywalker-Organa clan was so kind and amazing.

“Oh, I’ve tried. I can try to introduce you two and see if you can do what I could not,” Poe offered.

“That’d be great, thanks. We can talk about that later, though.”

“Agreed. Anyways, have you loser freshmen joined any clubs or anything yet? It’s a good way to make friends.”

“Rey’s going to that self-defense thing Monday, right? I would go too, but I’ve got a class,” Finn sighed.

“Yeah, and what were you off doing before this, Rose?” Rey said, grabbing another chip. The waitress had brought a fresh basket and the new ones were warm.

“It was an informational meeting for the drama club. It’s a play, so I don’t have to sing, or maybe I’ll just do crew. We’ll see.”

From there, the conversation weaved between a hundred different, pointless topics. It astounded Rey how quickly the group developed a rhythm. The conversation never stopped until they got their food, and even so it picked up right where it left off. For only knowing each other for about a half hour at the least, their bond formed quickly and it soon felt as if they had known each other forever. The feeling of making new friends was a nice one.

Her full stomach also felt nice. The empanadas were delicious, and she had an extra one saved for later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If any of you guys start a Mexican restaurant and call it Burritamigo, please tell me to let me know that my dreams are being fulfilled vicariously through you.
> 
> Also, I am not English, nor have I ever been to England. As such, I will not be writing with an English dialect even though it's from Rey's POV. I will try to write Rey's dialogue with more of an English dialect, though, since that's probably more doable.
> 
> Comments make me want to cry tears of joy since they make me feel appreciated! I appreciate everybody who comments, too!
> 
> Anyways, love you chicoritas! You deserve to stay healthy and not go crazy with cabin fever for making it this far. Wash your hands and don't spread misinformation about the coronavirus!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's good my guys! I'm late again, but I've already started writing the next chapter so hopefully it'll be out soon. In this chapter, we've got some more action from the OC from earlier, as well as Sabine from Rebels and Jyn from Rogue One. A lot of the stuff in this chapter is coming from my own mind or the two references I linked in the end notes, so forgive me if there's any inaccuracies.
> 
> Shoutout to the Gorls, and happy reading!
> 
> ~~flapdoodle

Rey made sure to arrive to Oramata’s class five minutes early. She wasn’t about to face the humiliation of walking in at the moment it started while everybody else was there.

The room the class was being held in was some sort of large studio space with a mirror covering the expanse of one of the walls, and what Rey was pretty sure to be a ballet barre across the wall opposite of the mirror. The floor was covered by one large mat. A group of students stood in a clump, and Oramata approached Rey. Her tank top and leggings showed off muscles probably built for years, and her usual single bun was replaced by two space buns at the crown of her head.

“Hey, welcome. You’re only going to need your body, so put any other belongings over there.” Oramata gestured to cubbies filled with phones, bags, and wallets underneath the mirror. “You’re Rey, right? In my introductory Chem class?”

“That’s me,” Rey confirmed, smoothing her hands against her sides. She didn’t know why she was feeling so weird about this. It wasn’t quite nervousness and it wasn’t quite excitement. Maybe it was just the feeling of being in a new place with a lot of people who could judge you.

“Cool, I’m glad you could make it. Hope you learn something.” Oramata gave her a thumbs up and a warm smile before going off to finalize something before the class started, or so Rey guessed.

Five minutes later, about twenty people had shown up, and Oramata called everyone to order. Flanking Ormata’s sides were two girls, one with white hair and purple ends, the other with black hair. They matched Ormata’s stature, and all three gave Rey the feeling that she was being closely studied by a pride of lionesses on the verge of pouncing. 

“Hello, everybody. Welcome to my self-defense and combat basics class. I recognize a lot of you from my Chem class and my work in the Earth Science department, but for those of you who don’t know me, I’m Hysmine Oramata. Pick one and call me that. I’ve been doing martial arts for almost my entire life, and I’ve won several national and international championships. I know what I’m doing. Before we begin, I’d like to introduce you to some of my friends. This is Sabine and Jannah,” Ormata gestured to the woman with purple tips and black hair respectively. “They’re going to help me demonstrate. Let’s start with a quick warm up, and then we can just go through some different scenarios and how you might respond to them. After that, we’ll go through some basic technique and strategies if you ever find yourself in a fight, just for fun. Questions?” She paused.“No? OK, then, let’s get started.”

Oramata took her spot at the front of the room, facing the mirror. Her friends took positions on either side of her. Rey, along with the rest of the class, followed Oramata’s moves to the best of their ability. Suffice to say that Rey felt limber afterwards.

“Now that everyone is nice and stretched, we can get started. The best self-defense is avoiding needing to use these strategies in the first place. If you are unable to avoid a situation in which you are being assaulted, your goal is to survive, and in a kidnapping situation to not get taken to a secondary location. If you are taken to a secondary location, your odds are coming back alive are slim to none,” Oramata said, a slight smile crossing her face. A couple of people chuckled, at what Rey wasn’t sure. “It’s actually not bad advice, though. Relocation is always a bad thing. Anyways, the best way to survive is to get your attacker to let you go so you can get away. If you take things too far it stops being self defense and your assailant could press charges on you. The longer it takes to get free, in any situation, the worse of a position you’ll get yourself in. The max amount of time non-athletes have is around 30 seconds. What we’re going to do first is show you how to shock your attacker so you have time to take advantage of them being off-guard. You also want to show that you are not one to be messed with. If Sabine starts to grab Jannah-”

As soon as Sabine touched Jannah, Jannah screeched, “Back off!”

It made Rey recoil, as it did Sabine. Jannah ripped her wrist from Sabine’s grip.

“See? Jannah has essentially asserted dominance. Sabine immediately hesitated, which allowed Jannah to break herself free and either prepare herself for another attack or run away.”

“Make sure you’re as loud and as aggressive as you can be. The louder and more aggressive, the better you show that you’re not going to be an easy target,” Jannah added.

“Yes. On the count of three, I want you all to yell ‘back off!’” Oramata instructed. “Do it like you mean it and are actively being threatened. Force air out from the stomach. Your goal is to terrorize, not to ask politely. Three, two, one.”

“Back off!” With the call from the class, Rey’s ears felt like they were about to burst. Her own voice fought to compete with all of the others.

“Good! One more time.”

“Back off!”

“Great. Be all of up in their face when you yell this. Another benefit is that you put everybody around you on high alert, so if you ever find yourself being attacked make sure that that’s your first step. Next, you have to remember to not stay stationary. A target is significantly harder to hit if it’s moving. Guys?”

Jannah made to grab Sabine’s arm, but Sabine jerked it around and easily shook Jannah’s grip. Sabine continued to move so that when Jannah tried to punch Sabine, Jannah’s blow missed.

“See? If their arm is being twisted by your arm, they can’t hold on very well. If you’re no longer occupying the space they’re aiming for, then they’ll miss you. I want everybody to practice moving constantly and randomly, like this.”

Oramata began to demonstrate, moving her body up, down, back, forth, and side to side.

“Now, on the count of three start moving and don’t stop until I tell you. Three, two, one.”

The class sprung into action. Rey did her best to be as random as possible, making herself an impossible object to hit. She should have learned these tricks sooner, it would have made surviving in Jakku a whole lot easier.

“Stop. You guys are doing pretty well so far. I’m glad to see that you guys are all taking it seriously and going for it. This class won’t help you if you don’t apply yourself. If you’re in an emergency situation, you need to know what to do almost instinctively, and by getting it down here to the best of your ability you allow yourself to make it natural. Anyways, something else you can do while moving your arm is to kinda slap their leg in order to redirect their focus.”

Jannah grabbed Sabine’s arm again. This time, while Sabine moved her arm out of Jannah’s grip, Sabine smacked Jannah near the hip. Jannah immediately startled to look towards where she had been hit.

“Any questions before we practice this?” Oramata asked. When no questions were asked, Oramata continued. “OK. We’re going to pair you guys up. First, I’d like you to introduce yourself to your partner since you’ll be working with them for the rest of class. Second, I’d like each of you to practice the maneuver three times. Alternate who’s the attacker and defender each time. Once we give you a partner, find an open space to stand.”

Rey was pointed at by Oramata, who was holding another girl by the shoulder. “You two are together,” Oramata said, gently shoving the other girl closer to Rey.

“I’m Jyn,” said the girl as she approached. Her accent marked Jyn as another native of England.

“Hi, I’m Rey.” She offered a small smile, which Jyn didn’t return. Gesturing towards an unoccupied space, Rey said, “Should we go over there?”

“Sure.”

Practicing with Jyn was certainly interesting. She seemed as if she grasped everything very quickly, which made sense since the maneuvers were simple, but she made her boredom clear. While she wasn’t outright friendly, Jyn also wasn’t mean, which Rey could tolerate for the next hour or so.

When everybody was seemingly done, Oramata called the class back to order. “Nice work. Now before we get into the scenarios, let’s go over a few of the basics. There’s a few different attacks and defenses that you can apply to a lot of situations. I’m going to walk you through them as Sabine and Jannah continue to demonstrate.”

Rey had never known how to break somebody’s arm after they had grabbed her from behind, but now she did and was all the better for it. Oramata made a smart call not letting her students practice that one.

As they made their way through the common situations, Rey could have sworn that Jyn was putting a lot more effort into her attacks than the rest of the students. Everybody else was being cautious and fairly gentle, but Jyn was really going for it. Rey couldn’t tell if Jyn just didn’t like Rey to the point of being very aggressive or if she was just trying to give Rey a more authentic experience. Oramata did keep reaffirming that many attackers would not be sitting ducks like the way they were practicing, and Jyn was definitely not being a sitting duck. Perhaps a standing goose would be a better descriptor.

Finally, with half an hour left in the class, Oramata announced that it was time to do what Rey had really been looking forward to.

“Now, we’re going to be learning some basic mixed martial arts combat techniques. Let it be known that I do not recommend or condone starting fights or giving people reasons to start a fight with you. However, I want my pupils to be able to hold their own in a little bit of friendly sparring. Practicing martial arts is a great way to exercise and have fun, which is why I like to give people the opportunity to do so in a competitive and monitored setting. Now, when you’re in a fight, more often than not you want to make the first move so you have an upper hand. You should never start a fight with somebody who will take the upper hand with the second move.”

Oramata showed the class different stances, as well as how one could attack or defend from each position by exchanging a few blows with her demonstrators. Oramata then went into more depth about offensive and defensive strategies themselves. With the last five minutes of class, Oramata let the class spar or continue practicing the self defense moves while she, Sabine, and Jannah came around to give pointers.

“Let’s fight,” Jyn said, getting Rey’s attention before Jyn aimed a punch to Rey’s throat, one of the weak points of which Oramata had taught them.

Jyn was certainly not holding back, Rey thought as she jumped back and closed herself off with one of the fighting stances she had just learned.

Spotting an opening, Rey aimed two quick jabs at Jyn’s chest. They were glancing, but they landed. Jyn responded by kicking out at Rey’s side. The adrenaline that had begun pumping through Rey’s veins allowed her to catch Jyn’s leg and pull her off balance. That’s what Rey chalked it up to, at least.

Jyn landed on her back with a thud and laid there for a moment, the wind knocked out of her.

“Are you OK?” Rey asked, concerned.

“I’m fine. That was-pretty good,” Jyn gasped. The acknowledgement made Rey smile. It was probably the nicest thing Jyn had said to her over the last hour and a half. Jyn also took Rey’s proffered hand, another small victory. “We’ve got time, let’s go again.”

“Alright,” Rey agreed, sliding into another fighting stance.

This time, Rey moved first, jabbing her elbow towards Jyn’s stomach. Jyn took advantage of Rey’s low position to force her to the ground. Using her hips to push Jyn off of her, Rey managed to roll out of Jyn’s immediate range. Jyn didn’t hesitate to come back after Rey. Blocking the other woman’s punch, Rey forced an opening to get Jyn in the shoulder. Jyn pulled away, watching for Rey’s move. As soon as Rey lunged, Jyn used Rey’s momentum to flip Rey onto her back. This time, Rey was the one with the wind knocked out of her.

“I fancy that I’m one of the people Hysmine would say takes the upper hand on the second move,” Jyn mentioned, helping Rey up. “You held your own, though.”

“Thanks.”

“Everybody! Not bad today! You’ve completed my first of three self defense courses! If you had fun and learned something, look out for when self defense two is held. I hold each course several times, so if you or a friend miss one there’s no worries. If you’re interested in the sparring side of it, the placement assessment for Fight Night is on Friday. You are all dismissed,” Oramata declared.

As Rey was getting ready to leave, though, Oramata stopped her. “By any chance were you interested in participating in my sparring club?” she asked.

“Yeah, actually. I didn’t sign up since I have something on Friday during the assessment thing.”

“Well, you’re in luck since I hold the assessment in order to judge seeds and if somebody is actually cut out for my club, but since you’re here I’m able to judge that now. You’ve got a fighter’s eyes. I saw it early, so I had Jyn assess you today. Sorry if she roughed you up a bit, but she said that you had potential. Would you mind staying a few extra minutes to spar with Jannah?”

“Yeah, I’m absolutely fine with that.” That would explain a lot, but Rey was not about to complain since it had gotten her this opportunity.

“Great. There’s something special about you, Rey. I can feel it in my bones. Now, the rules for this are simple. Full contact, just no head or anything inappropriate. Mixed marital arts, so just do what you can to win that doesn’t break any bones or anything since that would not do well on my conscience. Are both parties ready?” Oramata asked, stepping to Sabine’s side so that Rey and Jannah were able to come face to face.

“Ready,” Jannah said, eyeing Rey.

“Ready,” Rey echoed.

“Allez, then.”

Jannah immediately leaped into action. Rey did her best to dodge the onslaught of blows, but many managed to get her. In the middle of one of Jannah’s punches, Rey managed to twist her arm around Jannah’s outstretched one, putting her into an armlock. With her free arm, Rey jabbed Jannah in the sternum.

Jannah twisted away. Both women took a moment to regroup before either of them made the next move. Jannah took advantage of Rey’s indecision to sweep her legs at Rey’s. In her effort to dodge, Rey found herself off balance, which Jannah recognized instantly. She sprung up, giving Rey the final push needed to knock her on her butt. Before Jannah could pin her, though, Rey managed to flip up and into a crouch. From there, Rey charged at Jannah, using her momentum to ram her shoulder into Jannah’s stomach and throw her to the floor. Rey mustered all of her speed to get on top of Jannah before Jannah was able to get back up, but was a moment too late as Jannah had already rolled back. Jannah swept her leg at Rey’s again, but Rey was able to jump over the attack and perform a flying tackle. 

“You’ve got me,” Jannah admitted, going limp under Rey’s weight.

Rey quickly got off of the other woman, helping Jannah up.

“That was pretty impressive. What’s your combat background like?” Oramata asked.

“Nothing formal, just what I was able to teach myself out of necessity. Picked a few things up here and there,” Rey replied with a shrug.

“Rough upbringing? Sorry to hear it. You’ve managed to get yourself into a position where you’re able to make something of yourself though, which is a chance I wish more people got. What you showed me was pretty impressive, and you’ve definitely got the skills for Fight Night. Hopefully it’ll be more fun than fights you’ve been in in the past. Do you think you’ll be able to make it?”

“I should, thank you.”

“No problem. Also, one more thing, have you ever had any interest in learning sword combat?”

“I’ve never really thought about it,” Rey said, unsure as to where this was going.

“Well, at his university there’s a variation on Kendo that’s only really done here. I’m trying to recruit people for it. I think that you’d be good at it, you have the natural athleticism and will to succeed. There’s going to be a couple of matches at Fight Night, so if you want to try it just let me know. Almost all of the practitioners take part in this big tournament at the end of the year, it’s a pretty big deal if you compete. You should probably get going, though. I’ll see you in Chem.”

“Bye, thanks again,” Rey said, waving to Oramata, Sabine, and Jannah as she made her way out the door.

Rey would have to ask about the Kendo thing at Game Night with the Skywalkers; they would definitely know what it was all about. Game Night, Fight Night, there sure were a lot of Nights.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From here we're going to be getting into the good stuff, my guys. Anyways, we're at five chapters, so it's probably good to get some feedback before I keep writing! If you would be so dear as to provide me with some thoughts on...
> 
> 1\. Which side relationships I should include? Rose/Finn, Finn/Poe, others? None?  
> 2\. A possible Ben POV chapter in the future?  
> 3\. Oramata? I know I really like her because she's my OC, but I don't know if you guys do based on this one chapter. As of present, I'm only planning on having her making one or two more significant appearances, but it's not like I'm planning this beforehand, so everything is subject to change.  
> 4\. How much Star Wars content I should pack into this AU? If you couldn't tell, the Kendo variation is basically lightsaber combat (Is there a name for it?), and when we get to the DnD part that I teased in the summary that campaign might be loosely Star Wars based. Do you want to see more or less of that?  
> 5\. What I should call the university or Rey's last name? (Whoops the secret's out I haven't figure out either of those yet)  
> 6\. The fic in general? I'm having a fun time, but if you guys aren't let me know how to improve and what you want to see!
> 
> Thank you all so much! You deserve to stay safe and healthy for making it this far, but especially safe with the self-defense references I used in writing this chapter:
> 
> https://youtu.be/ZrZieC3ysyk  
> https://youtu.be/dePpR5GsCxI


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really excited for this one my guys. The plot has actually started moving, which is incredible, I know. There's implied abuse in this chapter, so if that's a sensitive subject feel free to skip over it.
> 
> Shout out to the gorls, and thank you for reading!
> 
> ~~ flapdoodle

“He should be around here somewhere,” Poe muttered as he and Rey walked through the sterile-feeling hallways of the math building. “His gross super-advanced math class should have ended right around now.”

“If you say so,” Rey said, shaking her head.

“Wait, I see him. The tall, dark-haired guy walking towards us. Remember the plan?” Poe asked.

“Yup.” The plan had been hashed out beforehand. Rey had felt uncomfortable just going up to Ben Solo, introducing herself, and demanding that he go to Game Night, so instead they had decided to ambush him when he was most likely to be alone. From there, Poe would introduce them, Rey would feign that she remembered his name being brought up by Leia, and she would invite him to Game Night. Simple enough. Their excuse for being in the math building in the first place was that Poe was showing her some of his favorite study spots. He had legitimately showed her a nice, private nook that she fully intended on going back to, so it wasn’t a complete lie.

As soon as Ben was close enough so that it would be awkward if Poe and Ben didn’t acknowledge each other, Poe raised a hand in greeting. “Hey, Ben, what’s popping?”

“Not much. What’re you doing here?” Ben’s tone was bordering suspicion. His voice was deep and slightly raspy, though, and Rey found it pleasant.

“I was just showing Rey here some study spots around campus.”

“Hi, nice to meet you,” Rey said, hesitantly extending her hand. His grip was firm, like his mother’s. As she briefly met eyes with him, she couldn’t help but think that his dark, expressionless eyes were familiar.

“I’m Ben Solo.”

“That name sounds familiar,” Rey said, pretending to ponder it for a moment. “Oh! I was talking to President Leia the other day and she mentioned you. She was wondering if you would be coming to Game Night. Are you?”

At that, Ben’s already shadowed face grew darker. “No,” he said, scowling, as he walked away.

“Excuse me?” Rey called, taking a few steps towards Ben’s retreating form. "Why not?"

Ben didn’t stop walking, not even looking back over his shoulder as he told her to piss off.

“That was nice,” said Rey as soon as Ben was out of earshot. She knew that there was no way to convince him to come after a denial like that. Trying to wrap her head around why Ben was so rude and would immediately sour after mentioning his family was a futile effort. It even had seemed like he actively…didn’t like them, which Rey thought was an impossible feat.

“I knew that your chances were slim, but he probably could have been-”

“Less of a jerk?” Rey said, a scowl to rival Ben’s on her face.

“A bit nicer, but yeah,” Poe finished. “Sorry about that. He doesn’t have the most agreeable of personalities.”

“It’s fine. At least now I know I don’t have to deal with an Oedipus like him at Game Night. He’s a wet ham and cheese sandwich.”

“Harsh.”

“Normally I don’t dislike people this quickly, but anybody who does not want to spent time with Luke, Leia, and Han is automatically on my bad side. They're some of the most amazing people I've ever met. I guess Ben doesn’t think that and for that I have no choice but to mark him as my rival,” Rey grumbled, heading out of the building with Poe. “Why don’t you come instead? You already know them and stuff.”

“They always do invite me, but I’m never able to make it because I work Fridays. Otherwise, I definitely would.” Poe sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Honestly, you’re right. I don’t know how Ben turned out like that after being raised by them.”

“It’s nothing we can fix now, though.”

After she and Poe had parted ways, Rey pulled out her phone.

 _Me_  
Talked to Ben. He’s not coming to game night

 _Luke Skywalker_  
You tried, but I’ll have to admit that I thought your chances of success were low.

First Poe said it, now Luke. Did Ben really not like his family that much?

 _Me_  
Why?

 _Luke Skywalker_  
He tends to avoid associating with us at all costs. Let’s just say it’s a touchy subject and leave it at that.

 _Me_  
Ok

Of course, now that Luke had said that, she wanted to know what was up even more desperately. Rey would just have to hope that she could ask the right questions to wheedle the answer out of somebody. In the meantime, she would just have to do with not liking Ben Solo.

Classes passed slowly, to say the least.

Finally, it was time for Game Night. Rey was pumped. Rose had asked her why she was so excited to spend time with old people, no matter how important they might be. At the time, Rey had just said that she thought they were pretty cool, but that wasn’t the entire truth. As Rey thought about it, she realized that in the extended Skywalker clan, she had already begun to find role models and parental figures that she hadn’t had for most of her life. Thinking it over more as she made her way to the President’s House, she realized that that was probably the reason why she thought that Ben was so crusty, aside from him just being incredibly rude. He hadn’t taken advantage of a loving family that she would have killed for back in the UK.

Before she could knock, Luke pulled open the door. “Welcome! You’re right on time.”

Rey stepped inside as Luke moved to let her in. “Hi. What’re we playing today?”

“You’ll find out as soon as we get to the Game Room.”

“That sounds kinda spooky. The way you said that made it feel more like the kind of game room that had a lot of taxidermied animals and guns instead of Clue and Monopoly.”

Luke dramatically opening the double doors leading to the Game Room didn’t make it feel any less like a James Bond movie. Shelves filled with games in all varieties covered one wall, and the single table in the middle of the room was illuminated by a light fixture hanging from the ceiling. Leia, Han, and somebody Rey didn’t know all sat at the table, eyeing each other suspiciously and their cards with cold calculation. The first thing that struck Rey about the stranger was how hairy he was, and the second thing how large.

Rey’s entrance prompted Leia to immediately brighten. “Rey! So glad you could make it. Han, do you have the NCA? That’s a bit of an oxymoron, I suppose.”

“NCA?” Rey asked.

“Non-Cheating Agreement. Everybody signs one, just to have something to hold Han and Chewie to.”

Rey scanned the NCA. It was fairly short. At the top, the title read _Non-Cheating Agreement_ in one of the most pretentious fonts Rey had ever laid eyes on. Under that, in Comic Sans, it said “I, ________, hereby swear to not cheat in any fashion during the happenings of Game Night on _________, unless the game explicitly allows cheating in its rules.” Filling in her name and the date on the dashed lines and signing at the X on the bottom, Rey handed the contract back to Han, who shuffled it into a folder. “Why’d you have to go and use Comic Sans?”

“It’s Leia’s least favorite font, so if I was going down I figured that I’d pull her down with me,” Han stated simply.

“I honestly wonder why I married you, sometimes,” Leia sighed as a small smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

“Anyways! Chewie, this is Rey! Rey, this is Chewie!” Luke interrupted.

Chewie growled something at Rey, words coated in an accent so thick it would satisfy Sir Mix-A-Lot.

“Uh, nice to meet you, too,” Rey said.

“Don’t worry, you’ll figure out how to understand him after spending time with him,” Luke sidebarred to her.

“Got it.”

“Now that everybody’s here and has signed their NCA, I can announce the menu for tonight. Our appetizer is Phase 10, main course is Settlers of Catan. There’s no dessert today since Phase 10 will take forever, even without doing some of the Phases. The estimated play time is around two and a half hours. For our new member, the appetizer is a card game, the main course is a tabletop game, and dessert is a piece moving game,” Leia explained. “Let me reshuffle the deck.”

After shuffling, dealing, and providing the instructions, Leia started the game. She drew a card and put one on the discard pile, moving play to Han. 

“Y’know, I’m pretty great at this game. You might want to pick up some pointers, kiddo," he said smugly.

“Sure,” Rey said, grabbing the card that Chewie had just discarded. With that, she had three 7s. Now she needed either a 2 or a 10 to lay down her phase.

“So, Rey, have you been getting involved in any activities?” Leia asked as she stared Chewie down, presumably gazing into the inner workings of his mind.

“Yeah, actually. I’m going to Fight Night tomorrow. Actually, speaking of that, what’s the kendo variation thing?” Rey asked, making a valiant effort to see what Leia must be seeing in the fathomless depths of Chewie’s eyes. Leia was probably just psyching him out. How Chewie hadn’t crumbled under her scrutiny already was beyond Rey.

“Yes! There’s actually a few types, but should you plan to compete, you would probably learn Makashi with a little bit of Shii-Cho. It started a couple years after the university opened. A group of people just got together and decided that they wanted to fight in their own unique way, and it grew and got more attention until it was embraced by the administration. This year will be the 75th tournament the school has ever held. Our father won it, and so did I.” Luke said, eyes brightening. It was obviously something he was passionate about. “There’s a couple different events that draw more on the different styles. Do you think you’ll start learning?”

“I’ll have to see it. It’s with a sword, right? I don’t know where I would get one of those.”

“You can probably use my Shinai in the meantime, if you want. It’s not like I’m using it a lot these days. It should be close to something appropriately sized for you. Well, it’s up to you. You can talk to me later if you’re interested.”

“OK, sounds good.” Rey played her phase. A couple of the cards that remained in her hand matched sets that had already been played, so she should hit on those her next turn.

Rey found herself doing very well at Phase 10. She had gone out three of the last six rounds, and when it came to her turn for the last time in the seventh she coolly hit one of her cards and put her last one in the discard pile, effectively ending her turn and the hand. The only thing that betrayed her giddiness was her sly smirk.

As soon as she had played, Han slammed his hands down on the table and stood up, knocking his chair back. “Damn you, Rey!”

The action immediately caused Rey to flinch and her heart to race. She stiffened, preparing herself for further retaliation. To her surprise, Han just took a calming breath, fixed his chair, and sat back down.

“Sorry about that. I just get really into it,” Han apologized.

“Well, since we were only doing seven phases, I think Rey is the winner.” Leia’s warm smile did not match the concern flashing across her eyes. “Congratulations! Let me tally up the rest of the scores.”

Chewie grumbled and sank into his chair while Luke muttered his own begrudging congratulations.

Rey was honestly surprised she had even gotten that much after seeing how intense everybody was when playing.

With that, they moved on to Catan. This time, Luke explained the rules and the extra conditions the extension brought. Rey was designated resource dealer as she was seated the farthest away from both Han and Chewie, who were apparently notorious for stealing from the bank.

As roads and settlements were built, trades were made, robbers and pirates moved, and islands explored, Rey found that she was significantly worse at this game than Phase 10. Her beginner’s luck had probably run out, unfortunately. She hadn’t settled on an ideal strategy until about halfway through the game, and by then it was too late to catch up to Leia, who was the obvious winner from the beginning of the game.

“And with that, I’ve got ten victory points,” Leia said smugly, leaning back in her chair.

A series of groans, sighs, and forced “congrats” echoed from around the table. Half of the time, Leia had just been toying with them, prolonging her victory.

“That was fun! Rey, did you enjoy your first Game Night?” Leia asked, ignoring the fact that her popularity had plummeted among the people in the room.

“I did. Thank you for having me.”

“Of course! Thank you for playing with us. It’s always nice to have new faces at Game Night. If you want to come again, feel free to bring friends.”

“OK, will do.” Knowing it was getting late, Rey said her goodbyes and excused herself. She had a Fight Night tomorrow and a date with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe tonight.

Heading into her dorm with a yawn, Rey took off her jacket and shoes. “Hey, Rose.”

“Hey, Rey! How was it?” Rose glanced up from her computer, from which Rey thought she could hear a Phantom bootleg playing.

“It was good. I won Phase 10 and was demolished in Catan. Had a fun time. You look cozy in your pyjamas, though. I think I’ll join you.”

“Wait, wait, what?”

“What?”

“How did you do that? Say pajamas again.”

“Pyjamas?”

“There it is! How did you do that? Wait, say ‘my favorite color is red.’”

“My favourite colour is red?”

“I am going to cry. Never speak again. It’s like, the way you talk creates extra, unnecessary letters. Go away, I don’t want to see you.”

“Fine, but I will have you know that you’re the one talking without all of the necessary letters,” Rey argued, “and there are roughly 66.65 people in the UK that agree with me. Including your lord and savior Andrew Lloyd Weber.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “Don't bring him into this. Also, how do you just know that population of your country off of the top of your head?”

“You don’t? Americans are pathetic.” With that, Rey left to get ready for bed. She had been kept from finishing her book for too long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all!! Benny boi! The little cracky scene at the end! Fight Night next chapter! My new Instagram where I post mediocre art and update notices (@ _oof_ouch_)! The new and improved summary! It's all so exciting! I'll do my best to make all of that good ol' combat compelling, since I think I could have done better last time. I hope that y'all are as excited as I am!!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! You deserve to stay safe if where you're at is lifting restrictions and sane if they're not for making it this far.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's good my guys! It's finally time for Fight Night, one of the scenes I imagined way back at the beginning! In this chapter, I wrote the fights to songs on my fight playlist, where you can find all of the songs referenced and other songs I think fit fight scenes well: [here](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2kU9a921Jb47H43vcSE7R6?si=rfzk4h_wTi6q3wtyYtFi_g)
> 
> Shout out to the Gorls for beta-ing and to Wookiepedia for helping me find characters to pit against each other. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
> 
> ~~flapdoodle

Rey arrived at Fight Night ready. Her hands were wrapped with tape according to the instructions Oramata had given her and her hair was tied back into her signature triple buns. Her stomach was whirling with anticipation.

Pushing open the double doors, Rey entered a radically different world than the one she had left in the hallway behind. The room was massive. It was filled with folding chairs and people, some looking ready to fight and others just here to watch. Grabbing a program, she made her way down the center isle to get a closer look at the ring.

It was elevated a few feet off of the ground, with ropes the kind you would see in the WWE marking the boundary. Without really thinking, Rey reached out and tested to see how stretchy it was.

“Don’t worry, it’s mostly for show. The fights here are legitimate, unlike in professional wrestling, which you’re probably thinking of. It wouldn’t be any fun if they weren’t,” came a voice from behind Rey.

Startled, Rey whipped around and was met with Oramata. “I didn’t notice you sneak up on me,” Rey said, breathing a sigh of relief.

“A lot of people don’t. Your wraps look good, though. Did you see who you’re fighting yet? You’re in the novice brackets since you’re a rookie.”

“Not yet.”

“That’s OK. Your bracket is second to last today. Since you’re a fighter, you can sit over there.” Oramata pointed to a section of seating where most of the people here were gathered. “I’ll get it started in a couple minutes, but I have a few more rookies to talk to. I look forward to watching you fight,” Oramata smiled before walking away.

Making her way to the reserved section that Oramata had pointed her to, Rey scanned the people already sitting there. There was roughly a dozen black-clad, masked figures among the bunch. She sat one seat away from one of them, more concerned with getting a front row seat than with avoiding the shadowy people. The person she sat next to wore a hooded cloak, ribbed tunic-like shirt, loose pants, a sash-like belt, and a helmet. Not an inch of skin was visible. With all of their layers, they must be sweltering just sitting there.

Of course, then she had to see none other than Ben Solo walking in and carrying what she was pretty sure Luke had called a shinai, wrapped in red leather. She must have made her distaste overwhelmingly clear as it drew the attention of the person to her left.

“What did he ever do to you?” he said in a distorted voice. Or at least Rey was pretty sure he was a man. Hopefully she wasn’t about to misgender him.

It took Rey a moment to realize that he was talking to her. “There’s multitude of reasons why I don’t like him. He doesn’t like me, either.”

“A lot of people feel the same way. I don’t know him well, but he’s only ever been decent to me. This is you first Fight Night, right? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you here before.”

“Yeah, I’m in the first year here, so this is the first one I’ve been here for. It seems like it’ll be fun, though. By the way, I’m Rey.”

He firmly shook her hand, closing the gap between them. “Kylo Ren.” His hand dwarfed her own.

“That’s not your real name, right?” Rey asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“No, it’s not. It’s my identity for the Knight of Ren.” Seeing Rey’s visible confusion, he elaborated. “The Knights of Ren is a DnD group that I DM. The gimmick is that nobody knows who anybody is. When in costume, we are our characters.”

Just then, the lights went out. A single spotlight went on, illuminating Oramata standing in the middle of the pen with a microphone.

“I would like to extend my welcome to the first Fight Night of this school year. I’m glad that you were all able to come. Fight Night provides students with an opportunity to spar in a fashion that is able to be condoned by the higher-ups. Speaking of which, I’d like to thank the administration for allowing me to do this and for providing me with the tools to achieve such a large event.”

It was true, there had to be almost a hundred people here. Most of them were probably just spectators that had filed in while Rey hadn’t been paying attention, otherwise they would be here for ages.

“Our first event of the day is this university’s own shinai tradition,” Oramata said, swinging around a post to exit the ring. “The opening match is going to be between two of the most skilled shinai users on campus. Please welcome Sabine Wren and Ben Solo, who kindly decided to make an appearance at Fight Night for this match, to the squared circle.”

“I hope Sabine wins,” Rey muttered.

“The odds are in Ben’s favor, though, since he’s been at it longer than Sabine has,” Kylo Ren noted.

“The fight song for this match is the usual opener,” Oramata declared from the sidelines as Sabine and Ben made their way into the ring. They both wore armor that was radically different than what Rey had learned to be traditional Kendo armor from her light research. It resembled plate armor that didn’t protect the joints. Sabine’s was multicolored while Ben’s was a mix of black and white. “Are both parties ready?”

After waiting for confirmation from both fighters, Oramata gave the word to begin.

Personal biases aside, it was entrancing to watch. 

_Everything on TV / all it is is violence_

Rey didn’t know much about the actual technique and moves they were doing, so the intricacies were lost on her, but the precision and agility with which they moved was astounding. It was hard to tell who was winning when the action was going too fast for Rey to follow. The flashing shinais and the colored armor made it even more dizzying.

_I wanna start a fight club / wanna start a fight club_

It was uncertain as to whether blows were even landing. Rey didn’t know how they would when neither of them stayed in place for more than a second. The air was filled with the sound of Sabine’s black shinai clashing against Ben’s red shinai and the fight song that the blades danced to. The crack every time Ben’s weapon made contact with Sabine’s made Rey a little worried that one or the other was going to break. Ben was unrelenting.

_Everybody say they wanna start a fight club, yah / they don’t show their face when the time come, nah_

Sabine had been shoved backwards, forced down to skid into a lunge. She sprung back up and attacked with renewed vigor, deftly worming underneath Ben’s defenses and twisting around his attacks. He had been caught firmly on the side. Oramata declared something about a tied match, but Rey didn’t know how score was being kept.

_To tell the truth I’m a pacifist / but they wanna see a massacre_

The exchange continued with increasing ferocity. Even though it had only been a few minutes, it felt like the fight had lasted an hour. Quicker than Rey could blink, Ben had kicked Sabine in the stomach, a move that Rey was pretty sure wouldn’t fly in a normal Kendo match. The resilient armor must be for moves like those, then. Sabine crashed to the floor, and Ben immediately had his shinai aimed at her throat. 

_I wanna start a fight club_

After both participants were on their feet again, Oramata paused the music and officially declared Ben the winner. He glanced at Rey from the corner of his eye as he left the ring, and then he was up the aisle and out the door.

“That was a great first match. I’m not sure if the rest of the makashi matches will be able to live up to that standard.”

To Rey, they didn’t. They were too stiff and formal, lacking the almost artistic aspect of Sabine’s style and the raw passion that Ben had used. Credit to Oramata for pairing up the combatants, though, as Rey started to pick up on the different techniques and strategies and realized how well matched each pairing was.

Seeing it in action certainly made Rey want to try it, too. She knew that she would be slow to start, but she couldn’t help but to fantasize about emulating the talents of Sabine and, begrudgingly, Ben. Rey wanted to incorporate her own style, which seemed to be how one became one of the best fighters.

Finally, the makashi fights were over and it was time for the next segment.

“Since this is the first Fight Night of the year, as always we feature the Knights of Ren. Kylo Ren, would you like to introduce your group?”

Kylo stood, cloak trailing behind him, and accepted the microphone from Oramata, while Rey listened with curiosity.

“The Knights of Ren are comprised of ten Knights and me, the DM. They are divided into two DnD campaigns. We embody our characters, and as such modifiers are, to an extent, based on our actual capabilities. Through Fight Night, we are able to see what those abilities are and also see who can make the cut. We will alternate between stat-determining fights between my six core Knights and fights between me and the hopeful members. The four that I deem perform the best will become the newest knights. Audience, I hope you enjoy the fights. I will be back momentarily.”

He returned in a few minutes in clothes more suited for a fight, a loose black shirt and joggers. He was still wearing his mask and gloves, but his heavy leather boots had been replaced with a softer variation that wouldn’t cause as much damage. His skin remained covered, so he would probably be even hotter than before after all the exertion of several fights.

Kylo strode into the ring and called out a name similarly fictional to his own. The person it belonged to was probably about half a head shorter than Kylo, but that wasn’t saying much since Kylo was a giant of a man.

Oramata called the fight to begin, and it was immediately obvious that he severely outmatched the other disguised figure he was fighting against. While Kylo’s opponent tried to rely on speed and agility, Kylo possessed more of his own. Rey watched as Kylo threw his opponent to the ground, effectively ending the fight in an insanely fast fashion.

After the ring had been cleared out, two of the Knights entered and began their match. They were obviously more skilled than the challenger Kylo had just demolished. As he took his seat, it didn’t even seem as if he had broken a sweat.

“You made short work of that one,” Rey said as she continued to watch the fight unfold before her.

“She was applying as a rogue, so that makes sense. She’ll make it if there are any incompetent barbarians or fighters, which there always is. This challenge is more to root out those people,” he replied simply. Kylo was making notes on a clipboard that he must have pulled out while she was watching the fight. “Ap’lek is another rogue, but he’s got incredible skills. He’ll probably beat Kuruk, even though Kuruk’s a ranger.”

“I’ve never played Dungeons and Dragons before, so I have no clue what that means.”

“That’s fine. At this point I’m starting to think out loud.”

“Being a DM sounds cool, though. You get to be the driving force behind a story that you started.”

“It can be fun. More often it’s just frustrating because they don’t do what you want them to.”

Just then, Ap’lek secured Kuruk in a choke hold, securing his victory. The music stopped playing and Kylo got up for the next two fights.

The first was a hulking man who must have been one of those incompetent barbarians that Kylo had spoken of, as he was taken care of faster than the Rogue had been. The second was another leaner person who was actually able to hold their own against Kylo for a little while. Rey watched as they traded blows until Kylo was able to take advantage of an opening in his opponent’s defense and finished the bout quickly.

The fights continued on. Kylo was never beaten, and Rey was able to get a taste of how wide his skill set was. His Knights were also impressive, albeit to a slightly lesser degree. Rey also learned more than she ever thought she would about DnD as Kylo explained the classes to her.

Soon enough, Oramata announced that it was time for the rest of the fights, starting with the intermediate level. Allegedly the intermediate-novice-advanced order was inspired by how essays were structured in order to be interesting. “I was told that the second most interesting, or maybe it was strongest, point went first, and then down the line, and the last point was the best one so you went out with a bang. That’s what we’re doing here. We’ve got eight participants in the intermediate level and sixteen in novice with a bracket format. The six combatants I’ve deemed are advanced will compete in a round robin format. I will randomly choose which combatant's fight song to play. Let’s get started with the first match! Jyn Erso and Bodhi Rook, please make your way up. The song they will be fighting to is Toba Tek Singh. That’s funny because the guy that plays Bodhi in-” Oramata stopped when another woman with long white hair whispered something in Oramata’s ear. “I guess that’s too meta for you. Anyways, it was Jyn’s selection. Are both parties ready?” After waiting for confirmation, the fight began.

From the beginning, Jyn was clearly the superior opponent. While Bodhi’s strategy seemed to rely heavily on agility like the rogue from earlier, Jyn was able to exceed him with skills that were obviously superior than what she had displayed against Rey. As the singer chanted the name of the song, Jyn landed several hits, whipping around herself to cover her next move. Bodhi did his best to dodge and land his own attacks, but it was hard to get out of the way of Jyn’s tornado and she provided Bodhi with no openings. While he tried to retreat and regroup, Jyn took advantage of his lack of balance in to sweep his legs out from under him, winning the fight in less than a minute, by Rey’s estimate.

As fighters were eliminated, the matches were getting increasingly competitive. With the fight songs as a backing track, it almost felt like watching a movie.

“Have you ever fought in Fight Night as yourself and not as Kylo Ren?” Rey asked the masked man, curious and in need of a brief break from the non-stop fights.

Kylo hummed, the sound coming out distorted weirdly. He was probably debating how much he should reveal about his true identity. “Once. Last year. I won the advanced bracket.”

“Did you have to fight Jyn to get in?”

“Oramata already knew that I was capable, so I guess you could consider that I got in on recommendation.”

“I see. Have you fought Oramata before?”

“I have, and it went poorly, but apparently it was good enough by her standards to put me in the advanced bracket. I suppose that she wasn’t wrong, though. She tends to not be wrong about a lot of things.”

After another half hour of combat, the intermediate bracket ended with Jyn coming out the victor. She had won the final match by slowly wearing down her opponent and then pulling a feign, allowing her to land a sucker punch that sent the poor bloke down for the count. After that, Oramata announced it was time for the novice bracket. Rey’s first fight would be the third one in the round, so she had some time to survey the matches before hers with bated breath.

Kylo must have sensed her anxiety in the moments before she needed to head up. “Don’t worry, you’ll do great. Even if you’re outmatched, put up a fight.”

With a nod and a nervous smile, Rey headed into the ring. From her vantage point, Rey felt dwarfed by the sea of people with eyes on her. Oramata’s voice rang in her ears.

“We’ve got two rookies in the ring, Rey DeNiima and Tamara Ryvora. The fight song is Barracuda, but I was told to clarify that it’s the cover by Fergie and not the original by Heart. Are both parties ready?”

Rey gave a stiff nod. Tamara seemed familiar. Maybe they had a class together? Either way, she seemed like she would be a tough opponent.

“Allez!”

Tamara started towards Rey, gaining speed as she approached. Rey dodged the fist coming her way. Once behind Tamara, Rey pivoted and aimed an elbow at the other woman’s side. Tamara recoiled after the jab made contact, spinning around as she eyed Rey analytically.

As the fight continued going back and forth, Rey learned that Tamara hit hard. After Rey had failed to move out of the way, Tamara landed a solid hit to Rey’s shoulder. Rey gasped, retreating a few steps, and grit her teeth at the lingering sensation of the hit. It would definitely be sore tomorrow.

She rolled her shoulder as she moved back in for another series of blows. Doing her best to be as aggressive as possible while still avoiding Tamara’s attacks, Rey realized that the fight wasn’t going anywhere. She needed to do something to catch Tamara off guard and gain the upper hand.

The opportunity presented itself when Tamara moved towards Rey. In the seconds before Tamara landed her punch, Rey was able to process that she would be able to get beneath her opponent. Tamara’s momentum was still moving forward, so Rey was able to tackle Tamara’s legs and knock the two of them to the ground. After a few moments of thrashing about on the floor, Rey came out on top.

“And with that, Rey DeNiima has won and will move on to the next round. Let’s make way for our next match!”

Rey sunk down into her chair, not feeling the pain over the adrenaline coursing through her veins. It would surely slap her in the face tomorrow, though.

“You did well for your first fight. You might have proven that battles are indeed ugly when women fight, though,” Kylo remarked.

“First of all, I literally finished The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe last night, how crazy is that. Second of all, Father Christmas was sexist. A better point would be that battles are ugly when children fight, and I will stand by that. Women are perfectly capable combatants, but Lucy was, what, nine? Ten? She shouldn’t be fighting because she has no prior training or significant physical ability. Thirdly, that fight wasn’t ugly, I did perfectly fine.”

“Lucy was eight. And yes, I will concede to your points. Oramata puts the art in martial arts, for example. And while your fight might have been messy, I suppose ugly was an overstatement. One of my campaigns is actually partially based on The Chronicles of Narnia, believe it or not, though. Captain helped me write it, so it’s more or less finished. It’s the other one I’ve been having trouble with.”

“Oh really? What’s the second one all about?” Rey asked, electing to ignore the fact that he was still criticizing her technique.

“DnD is almost always in a fantasy setting, but I’m trying to write a campaign that’s in a more science fiction setting with fantasy elements. I wanted to challenge myself, but I spent too long figuring out the dynamics of the world and not enough time on what’s going on inside of it. If you’ve got any good plot ideas that may or may not culminate in fighting a god-tier creature, let me know.”

“If you need an alien creature, something with a lot of tentacles living in space is always a solid option. Have it threaten to suck out the life force of a planet or something along those lines. Orchestrate a cool fight scene like that. I’d assume you have blasters or ships capable of wearing it down to its inevitable defeat?”

“That’s admittedly a good idea. Are you into creative writing?”

“Kinda? I prefer reading over writing just because it’s so hard to properly manifest what’s in your mind in somebody else’s mind, though it is very satisfying to have a story come to fruition. It’s a lot easier to jump into some one else’s universe.”

“Would you mind assisting me with the campaign? It’s not quite the same as regular writing, but it’s just as satisfying. We can set a time and place and hash it out.”

His proposal was a little out of the blue, but Rey couldn’t think of why she would deny it. “Why not? Sounds like it would be fun. Gotta flex those creative muscles sometimes. Should I give you my phone number?”

“That would be great.”

After the exchange, Rey settled back in to watch the fights. It would be her turn again soon enough and she should probably be getting a better idea of what her opponents would be like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From here we might just be kicking into a bit of plot, isn't that crazy? I kinda know what's going on, do you? Also, if you know anything about what DMing is like please @ me so I have to do a little less research.
> 
> Just a little self-promotion here, I posted some mediocre art associated with this chapter on my Instagram! Here's the link: [here](https://www.instagram.com/p/CAxuYTaHrcv/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link) Feel free to talk to me over there, it would make me feel nice.
> 
> Anyways, I love all of you chicoritas! You deserve to take a break and some deep breaths to reset before continuing on better than ever.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What is good my guys!! I'll be real with you, this chapter took a while since I was feeling kinda uninspired to write it even though I kinda knew what was going to happen, but once I got started I had a blast writing so hopefully that mood'll carry over to next chapter (unless I continue to get distracted by my other WIPs). I hope you have just as much fun reading it!
> 
> Shoutout to the Gorls, as always, and have a lovely time!
> 
> ~~flapdoodle

Rey walked into her dorm, the loss of adrenaline leaving her exhausted. She was tired and sweaty and her sides and knuckles hurt, but otherwise she was pleased with how the last few hours had gone.

Rose looked up from her computer upon Rey’s entry, pausing what sounded like some bootleg on her computer. “Hey, babe, how was it?”

Rey collapsed onto her bed, even though she was damp and gross and really should take a shower. Immediately, she sank into the depths of its comfort. She didn’t know if she could get up, even if she wanted to. “It was good. I had fun. I won my bracket.”

“Whoo, congrats! Wanna watch _By Jeeves_ with me after you’ve cleaned up?”

Hm, that might prove to be enough motivation to get up. Rey turned her face towards Rose, the most interest she could bring herself to show at the moment. “Movie or bootleg?”

“Movie. I know, I actually bought something in order to watch it legally. It feels kinda gross, but it’s still pretty hilarious.”

“Absolutely. I guess I’ll go shower or something now,” Rey grunted, forcing herself off of the bed. Her muscles really weren’t there for getting up, but she knew that hot water would appease them soon enough.

When Rey returned, hair damp and pyjamas on, Rose scooted over on her bed to make room for Rey. It was warm pressed up against Rose’s side, and even though she loved By Jeeves, she couldn’t hold off her exhaustion for long. Eventually, she drifted off, hoping somewhere deep within the fog in her head that Rose wouldn’t mind.

-

Rey woke up to light streaming into the dorm through the single window. Groggily, she opened her eyes and sat up, her body complaining as she gathered her surroundings. She was still on Rose’s bed, but Rose had left. There was, however, a post-it note on the door, and Rey got up to read it.

_Come over to Finn and Poe’s when you’re up!!!!!! :D_

So that’s where Rey’s roommate must be. After changing and going through her usual morning routine, she took the stairs a floor down. Rey had heard something about how using your muscles more when they were sore would apparently make them feel less sore, but as she grimaced down the stairs she didn’t know how accurate that factoid was. It certainly didn’t feel right.

Eventually, she ended up in front of her friends’ door, hearing laughter coming from within. As Rey knocked on the door, she prayed that there was some sort of food product because she was _starving_.

The was movement on the other side, before the door was thrown open to reveal Finn’s grinning face.

“Peanut!” he exclaimed before enveloping her in a bone-crushing hug.

Rey managed to grunt out a “hey” before Finn let her go, eyeing her.

“You’ve got some nice bruises. Come on in, tell us all about how it went!”

As Rey stepped inside, closing the door behind her, BB puttered up to her, rubbing against her legs and begging for pats. She obliged, scooping him up as she sat down on the floor to complete the circle of her friends, ignoring how uncomfortable it was getting down.

“So?” Poe asked, grinning mischievously, “Rose told us you won!”

“Yeah, I did. Fought four times, almost lost the last two but by some stroke of luck I pulled through.”

“I’m curious, did you get to see Oramata beat anybody up?” Finn asked.

“I did. She fought with Jannah, who won the advanced bracket. It was wild. She turned into a completely different person,” Rey said, leaning back on her hands while contemplating the calculating, measured look that had been on Oramata’s face as she had taken down Jannah while looking more like a dancer than a fighter. It put truth to Kylo’s words, that she put the art in martial arts.

“She’s impressive, isn’t she? The Knights of Ren should have been there, too, though. Were they any good?” Poe asked, sipping a Red Bull. He offered a quick explanation of the DnD group to Finn and Rose, who had quickly adopted looks of confusion.

“They were. Their outfits all looked like they would be stifling, and I don’t know if it would be worth it for the aesthetic. I talked to Kylo Ren a bit, somehow I ended up roped into helping him write one of his campaigns.”

“Wow, that’s an honor. The Knights are a kind of cultural staple on this campus. They’re generally pretty looked up to, so getting involved with them gives you a kind of status boost whenever you go out in the mask. Speaking of which, you’ll probably need to create a character for yourself, even though you’re not playing,” Poe said.

Rose perked up at that. “Oh my gosh, I can totally help you with that! We’ll have to do that later. I’ll probably be able to pull a costume together for you, too.”

“You really don’t have to,” Rey said as she shifted in her seat uneasily, still not used to having people want to help her out willingly.

“Are you kidding me? I love character design and creation, it’s literally so much fun. You’d be doing a favor for me if you let me help you out,” Rose grinned.

Who was Rey to say no? She could probably use the help. BB purred in her lap, content with Rey’s absentminded stroking.

“Hey, Poe? Why’d you name a cat BB-8?” Rey asked suddenly, looking from the white and orange cat in question to his owner.

“Oh, don’t worry, it’s not like a type of plane or anything. It stands for Beautiful Boy, Bubble Boy, Blissful Boy, Bodacious Boy, Brilliant Boy, Bouncy Boy, Benevolent Boy, and Boisterous Boy,” Poe said, ticking each one off on his fingers.

BB-8 meowed at the mention of his many names. Rose started laughing hysterically, Poe swatting lightly at her.

Just then a toaster on the floor that Rey hadn’t noticed earlier popped, the fancy kind with four slots. A toaster waffle had emerged from each of them.

“Ah, the waffles.” Finn got up to toss each of them one while holding onto his own. “Breakfast is served.” He popped another four waffles into the toaster, then threw out the now empty box.

“I didn’t know that we were allowed to have toasters in the dorms,” Rose said through a mouthful of food.

“I’m not actually sure if we are, but if I had to make a guess I don’t think so. It’s not like I care, though,” Poe shrugged. “We always make sure to put it away after it cools back down. Finn and I are very responsible.”

Finn frowned. “I’m not sure if you can consider having at least ten code violations in our dorm responsible.”

“We break the rules _responsibly_ ,” Poe argued. “We do it in a very safe manner. There is not cause from concern, and we are very good at hiding all of our code violations whenever we’re inspected.”

Finn just sighed, resigned to his fate, but Rey didn’t miss the mirth in his eyes as he took another bite of waffle.

Rey’s thoughts wandered off, thinking of what that mirth may mean since it was different than other times she had seen Finn happy. Suddenly, she jerked up, remembering something. “Wait, what time is is?” Rey asked.

“Almost nine, why?” Rose said, glancing at her phone.

Carefully displacing BB as she moved to stand, Rey reflected on why she set phone alerts in the first place when she didn’t have her phone on her to receive the reminder when she needed it. “I gotta go. I have morning tea with Luke in half an hour. I’ll see you guys around.” With one last glance around the room, Rey smiled and waved at her friends before rushing out the door.

-

Luke poured Rey a cup of tea, which she took gratefully. After their first few weekly meetings, Luke had learned that her favorite blend had been a discontinued harvest strawberry and passionfruit tea. The saint that he was, he had asked a friend of his who apparently knew how to make tea blends to try and replicate it. They were pretty successful in their replication, and now Rey savored their work every time Luke invited her to morning tea.

“How have your classes been going?” he prompted, settling down with his own drink in hand.

“Pretty well. The Iliad rocks, so I’m enjoying that part of my Lit class. I already know a lot of the non-theory stuff in my engineering courses, so it’s nice getting some knowledge to back up skills I already have.” Rey took a sip of tea. It was that perfect temperature of almost too hot.

“That’s good. By any chance have you progressed in deciding a major? I don’t want to pressure you into making a hasty decision, but I do want to know where your mind is right now.”

“Honestly, I’m not sure. If I’m really thinking about it, then I know that engineering will be easier to find a job with, which is important, but I also know that I’d probably enjoy talking about Dante’s Self-Insert Fanfiction more than sitting behind a desk getting frustrated by CADD software. It’s really the physical stuff with engineering that I enjoy, but I don’t know if I want to study mechanical engineering technology, though. I also know that I don’t have the funds to double major, so it’s still up in the air.”

“Ah, yes, that’s what I’ve been hearing all of you students were referring to Dante’s Inferno as. That was bugging me earlier. I see your struggle, though. If doing a double major is really what you want to set your heart on, then I will do my best to support you in any way you need. Keep thinking about it, tell me if you ever want help. How’s everything going that doesn’t concern academia?” Rey always felt touched by Luke’s genuine concern towards her well-being.

“That’s also going pretty well. I went to Fight Night yesterday, I won my bracket. I did see the makashi matches and it looks really interesting. I was thinking of talking to Oramata about it the next time I see her in Chem,” Rey mentioned, to Luke’s apparent delight.

“Oh, really? I’m glad to hear it!”

“Yeah, I’m just not sure where I would get the shinai and armor.”

Luke hummed and nodded. “You can still take up my offer on using my shinai, you’ll just have to make sure it’s an appropriate weight. You’ll probably have to double check with Oramata on that, and she’ll also get you the armor. She’s really the go-to expert on campus, but when it comes to the lessons there’s a lot of different teachers you could possibly go to. I can definitely help you out a bit, but it would really be better for you to get a teacher you can spar with. I can’t move the way I used to, you know. Oramata’s definitely one of the masters people vy for, so it’s a bit tough to get into her schedule. Here, actually, let me go grab my shinai real quick,” Luke said, standing and striding to the bookshelf in the back of his office that featured several cabinets beneath all of the books. After rummaging through one of the cabinets for a moment, he stood back up with a long black bag in hand. Luke handed it to Rey, who took it carefully.

Opening up the bag, she removed a shinai wrapped in blue leather. She marvelled at the way it felt in her hand, swinging it small arcs. “Wow,” she breathed. The immediate connection she felt with the sword was peculiar, but in a good way.

“I know, right? It was my dad’s, and then it was mine, and now it’s yours! At least for the time being.” Luke sat back down and picked his cup back up.

“Thank you,” Rey said, unsure of how to properly convey her gratefulness.

“You’re welcome. No pressure, but you’d better make its history proud,” Luke laughed.

“I’ll do my best.” Rey tucked it back inside its sleeve, setting it down next to her chair. “How’re those birds doing?”

“To my dismay, they are doing well,” Luke sighed. The conversation devolved from there into an obviously much-needed rant about the murder of crows that had recently invaded Ach To street.

After another half hour of chatting, eventually Luke had to leave to go to a meeting, bidding Rey off. The only thing she had really had to eat today was the toaster waffle and the snacks Luke had set out with the tea, which she had tried to eat casually and not like she was starving. She was considering if it was late enough for an early lunch, shinai in hand, when she was forcibly removed from her thoughts by bumping into a wall. Or, well, it wasn’t a wall, Rey realized as she got her wits about her, but Ben Solo, who honestly had as much personality and emotion as a wall. So really, she hadn’t been completely off.

“Ah, sorry about that,” she remarked coolly.

“It’s alright, I wasn’t paying attention either.” His voice had no right to be that smooth and rich. His eyes flicked to the bag in Rey’s hand. “What’s that?”

“What’s it matter to you?” she bristled. “It’s a shinai, if you must know.”

“Oh, are you going to be learning makashi? Do you need a teacher?” Rey didn’t know if she was imagining the patronizing tone in his voice, but either way it was pissing her off.

“Maybe, but it’s not going to be you,” she snapped, storming off.

Was her reaction justified? Maybe not. Was she going to apologize? Definitely not.

It was, however, definitely time for lunch. Her mood had been soured, and food always helped to make her feel better.

She settled down with her pad Thai, comfortable by herself as she needed a moment to cool off. Her attention was soon pulled from the window by somebody calling her name.

“Hey, Rey.”

Rey looked up at Jyn, who was leaning against the table. “Oh, hi.”

“I just figured that I’d drop by and congratulate you on your win last night. You did well.”

“Thank you. You did well, too.”

Jyn smiled and nodded her head in thanks. “Out of curiosity, what part of England are you from?”

“I’m from Jakku, which is an hour train ride south from London.”

“Huh. I’m from Vallt, which is pretty far north. Can I sit by you?”

Rey saw no reason why the other woman shouldn’t. She shrugged. “Sure, go ahead.”

Rey spent the rest of her lunch talking to Jyn, mood considerably improved. Jyn was pretty cool, and once you got to know her she got significantly less standoffish. It probably helped that Rey had proved herself of something by winning her bracket yesterday, too. Laughing with Jyn was certainly a better lunch than sitting and stewing over her hatred for Ben Solo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ah ha HA
> 
> What's going on? Who knows anymore. I sure don't. There's so many plot points and sub plots and no definite end point I want to make my way to so it'll probably just continue on like a connect-the-dots-of-scenes-I-want-to-write thing. I'll loosen my tongue a bit and tell you some things you might be able to look forward to in the distant future:
> 
> a Ben POV chapter ~ an appearance by the song I named this fic after ~ a l-love triangle???!!
> 
> (not necessarily in that order)
> 
> Anyways, love you chicoritas! You deserve to see a change in your society and culture where people can be born and not be discriminated against for who they are for making it this far. Do your part! Black lives matter! Educate, donate, participate! If you don't actively support and ally with BLM, the LGBTQ+ community, and every other group that is at a disadvantage in society outside of action only taken to make you look good, then don't read my fic, you bigot. Also wear a mask and make sure it goes over your mouth AND NOSE because Covid-19 isn't gone, either!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings my guys, I have returned from the void to bestow this chapter upon you. Writing SIBSN is really just a vicious cycle of feeling uninspired-forcing myself to write it-getting inspired-finishing the chapter-losing inspiration. There's just too many WIPs to work on and not enough time to work on them.
> 
> ANYWAYS this chapter kinda became an Oramata chapter accidentally? So sorry not sorry about that. There's only one or two more scenes I want her to be in explicitly, though, so if for some reason you hate her there's that to look forward to. To make up for the OC stuff I threw in some Stormpilot because I felt like it. I hope I never said that I knew how to sub-plot, because I don't.
> 
> As always, shout out to the Gorls, and I hope you enjoy this long-awaited update!  
> ~~ flapdoodle

Monday morning, Rey headed to the lecture hall a few minutes earlier than she usually did, hoping that Oramata would already be there. Fortunately, she was.

“Hey, Rey,” Oramata said, not looking away from the neat stack of papers she was shuffling through. She selected a few sheets and reordered them, forming a new stack and placing it next to the old one.

“Oh, uh, hi. I just had a question.”

“I see. We don’t have that much time, so if we can’t hash it out now shoot me an email to let me know when you want to continue talking. But I’m getting ahead of myself, what was your question?” Oramata asked, finally meeting her gaze. Rey was a pretty confident person, but being the center of Oramata’s attention made her want to shrink in on herself a little bit.

“It’s not about chemistry, actually. After Fight Night, I decided that I wanted to learn makashi, and I was told that you could help me get started?”

As a smile crossed Oramata’s face, Rey’s random bout of nerves was eased. “That’s great! I can definitely help you with that. I’m sure that you know that you have to get your gear before you actually learn how to fight, though. I have a friend who makes really good armor, so I’ll just have to send her your measurements and she’ll get started with that. Then you’ll need the shinai, of course.”

“I think I already have that covered. Luke’s letting me use his,” Rey explained.

“Skywalker? The blue one?” Oramata said, a note of interest in her voice. Rey nodded in affirmation. “Huh. That’s a fun one. It’s been around for decades, and I’d consider it a miracle that it’s still in any usable condition at this point. Usually shinai only last about a year at max, but I think it was only really used in competitions and it was well taken care of in between uses. My dad was there when Anakin Skywalker used it to knock out this one hated math professor called Dooku. Shinai are training swords, but hard enough in the right spot was enough,” Oramata chuckled. “Caused a real stir. Anyways. The history part is boring, you probably want to know if it’s a good fit. Honestly, probably not based on the specs that I remember, but you’ll be fine for a few practices before you get one that’s more personalized.”

“Do you know all of the information on every shinai used here?”

“A lot of them, maybe. That one’s an infamous weapon, and therefore especially interesting. Luke and I are friends, so of course I asked to see it, and then I have a really good memory,” Oramata shrugged. “It’s not that big of a deal. The important thing is that we need to get you measured and give you the crash course before you jump into it. Astonishingly, I actually have some free time this week. Would you be able to make it on Wednesday at six in the same studio you took the self-defense course at? It’ll only be about forty five minutes.”

“Yeah, that should be good,” Rey nodded. “Do I need anything?”

“The shinai and some water. Wear something athletic.”

“Great, thanks. I’m going to head to my seat now,” Rey said as she started to walk away.

“It’s no problem. I’m looking forward to it.” Oramata sent her off with another smile before turning back to the papers.

Rey made her way up the stairs to slide into her usual seat next to Finn. He shot her a glance and quirked an eyebrow, silently asking what that had been about.

“I was talking to her about learning makashi,” Rey explained.

Finn looked like he was about to say something to that, but Oramata called the class to attention, drawing both of their focuses to the front.

Finn, on his part, did a great job of not forgetting about the interrupted conversation. As they strolled to their English class, he broke the comfortable silence. “So, you’re gonna be learning how to swordfight? That’s pretty cool.”

“Yeah, it is. I hope I like it. It’s one thing to see other people do it, but it’s a whole other thing when you try it yourself, I’m sure.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll have a blast kickin’ ass. I mean, you won Fight Night with little formal training, right? You’ll pick this up easy, especially if Oramata is as good at teaching how to use a sword as she is at teaching chem. Like, she’s moving really fast, but I actually somehow understand and keep up with it?”

“It’s incredible, I know. And at least she doesn’t assign an essay every two weeks like Holdo. She’s nice, but is it really necessary? I think not.” Finn nodded his head in agreement. “My sense of productivity is already devolving rapidly. By the end of the semester I might not have the willpower to get those done.”

“And you’re more or less an English major. Imagine how I’m doing with those,” Finn sighed. “Like, how does she even manage to fit all of them into the curriculum? Are we really learning enough stuff that’s essay-able to require writing that many essays?”

“At least they’re not particularly long ones.”

“True that.”

As their conversation tapered off, Rey heard her phone vibrate from her backpack, which was strange since she normally had it completely silenced. The ringer must have turned on accidentally. She’d better turn it off now before she forgot and it went off in Holdo’s class. Holdo seemed like the kind of person who would be super passive aggressive if that happened, and Rey wasn’t about to deal with that kind of negativity if she could avoid it. Flipping the bag around, she rooted through it before pulling out the device with a soft “aha!”

Turning it back to silent, Rey turned the phone on to see what had made it go off. She was met with a notification for a text message sent by none other than one Kylo Ren.

Frowning, she opened it.

_Kylo Ren_  
Are you still interested in helping me with my campaign?

 _Me_  
Yeah sure  
What about it?

 _Kylo Ren_  
Great. We should probably set a time and place to get that going

 _Rey_  
Saturday afternoon should work for me. 130 ish @ library?

“Who’re you talking to? Your face is all scrunched,” Finn asked as they pushed their way into the English building.

“Kylo Ren.”

“Oh, he’s the one Dungeons and Dragons guy Poe was talking about, right? You said you were helping him with his campaign thing.”

“Yeah. He was just asking when I wanted to do that. I’m not forgetting we made plans on Saturday, right?”

“No, you’re good. Poe and I were going to see that new Galactic Battles movie. It’s probably going to be pretty bad since they’re just making all of these spinoffs to rake in some cash, but he asked and it’s not like I was going to tell him no.”

“Oh, exciting. Have fun on your date then,” Rey smirked.

Finn immediately grew flustered. “No no nonono! It’s absolutely not like that! It’s completely platonic.” 

“I see. I have heard it’s not gay to kiss the homies goodnight, so I suppose that going to the cinema and then dinner isn’t either. Forgive my misinterpretation of the situation,” Rey said with a mock bow.

After they had taken their seats, Rey looked to see if Kylo had replied.

_Kylo Ren_  
Sounds good. See u there

Rey tucked her phone back into her backpack, a smile on her face. It would be nice to get her creative juices flowing after so long talking about fiction that’s already been written and slamming Gerard from two tables over with her superior understanding and analysis. After the umpteenth time Rey emerged victorious from one of their debates, he should have realized that he should stop trying to argue with her. Alas, his skull must be too thick for that and the author’s purpose to get through.

Rey nearly forgot about her practice with Oramata, distracted by homework and dinner. After a mad dash to the studio space, shinai case slung over her back, she was relieved to find that she was right on time.

“Ah, welcome. As the first order of business, can I take your measurements so I can send them to my friend? I’ll make it as fast as possible,” Oramata promised.

“Of course,” Rey said, watching Oramata take out a measuring tape. With a practiced deftness, Oramata took all of the measurements rapid-fire, typing each number into a text message on her phone which she proceeded to send to her friend.

“Any color or design preferences?”

“I don’t really know. Maybe something grey? I don’t think I care that much about a design,” Rey said. Grey would probably be easy to accomplish, right? She didn’t want this friend of Oramata’s to have a hard time with some complex pattern.

“OK then, she’s been informed. She’ll probably try something experimental with the design, though, so you’ll have that to look forward to,” Oramata chuckled. “Now that that’s over there’s one more boring part, for you at least, and that’s familiarizing yourself with the shinai. Take it out, if you will.”

Oramata’s understanding of the weapon was evident in her confident explanations and seeming wealth of knowledge. After her breakdown of the parts, care, and how to know what size was appropriate for when she got her own, Rey could say she actually knew something about the weapon. She was handed a reference sheet that contained everything in significantly less detail in case she forgot something, too. Oramata was anything if not prepared.

“Now it’s time to get into the good stuff. We’re going to take it slow, and I’m going to show you some of the foundational skills you’ll need to know to get to the combative aspect of it. Since we’re not actually going to be sparring, you don’t need to worry about not having armor. You also don’t need to be too worried about any formalities since there’s no reiho to speak of except for a standing bow to your opponent at the beginning and end of a match. In that respect, it’s pretty dissimilar to actual Kendo.”

As Oramata gave the rundown on how to do a proper standing bow, Rey couldn’t help her thoughts as they drifted towards Ben Solo, one of the rudest people she knew. She was pretty sure that he hadn’t bowed at the end of his match with Sabine. What a jerk. She would have to add that to her list of complaints against him.

“There’s five major stances.”

Rey paid attention to Oramata’s explanation of the stances and how to transition between them, copying her teacher when instructed. It felt was a lot more precise than it had seemed in action, but according to Oramata the stances' use in makashi was a lot less stiff than normal Kendo.

Through the demonstrations, Rey couldn’t help but admire Oramata’s well-toned arms and back, in a hopefully not creepy way since she was pretty certain that Oramata was at least a decade older than her. A long, jagged scar peaked out from under her tank-top, crossing over her right shoulder. Rey had never noticed it the few times she would have had the opportunity to. How Oramata could have acquired it was beyond Rey, but maybe she would ask later.

“Are you ready to move on to footwork and some of the concepts behind the swings?”

Oramata seemed pleased at the speed with which Rey picked up makashi. She grasped the motions quickly, and though she was nowhere near any of the combatants she had seen at Fight Night, Rey had a solid foundation of skills to build upon.

“The first three actual classes are one-on-one so that you have the chance to get a hold on everything at your own pace. After that, you sign up with a small group from your skill level on the university’s makashi website. It’ll make more sense when you see the form,” Oramata was saying as the so-called “crash course” wound down. “I recommend that you practice what you learned today so it stays fresh. I’m always open for questions, and there’s also always the website. It’s got a lot of good resources. Do you have any questions that I can answer right now?”

Since Rey did not presently have any questions about makashi, she debated how much tact she should use in order to ask Oramata a more personal question. _You know what, screw it._ “It’s not about makashi, but how did you get that scar on your back?”

Oramata laughed, reaching a hand over her shoulder to brush over it. “That’s a great story. When I was fifteen, I was practicing judo with my current partner Tenrai before we started dating. Normally, I’m hyper aware of everything going on around me, but in that moment, all I could focus on was just how feral and beautiful Tenrai was. I was distracted enough to give them an opening and they judo-flipped me into a folding chair. There must’ve been something sharp on it, and when my shoulder came down on it it got sliced open. So yeah, that’s the story of how I fell in love. Ever since then I’ve been especially careful to not drop my guard, since you don’t get to go to the Olympics if you get distracted by your opponent.”

“You’ve competed in the Olympics?”

“Yeah, I went twice. Could’ve gone at least once more but I’d rather be here instead. I don’t advertise it because then people want to bite my medals and I’d rather not attract all of that attention. It’s nice being a fencer because nobody knows who you are, even when you’re the first person to get a gold in each weapon twice. I don’t want to hold you past your time, though, so I’ll talk to you later to figure out the next class. I’m sure that you’ve got better things to do than talk with your TA about her personal life.”

“It’s fine, that’s really cool, actually. I actually do have an essay to work on though, so I’ll see you later!” Rey called as she left the studio.

“Bye!”

So that had been one crazy info-dump. Isn’t it wild when your Chem TA who’s actually a grad student in the Earth Sciences department is apparently a several-time Olympic champion? What a small world.

As Rey walked back to her dorm, she regretted her lack of jacket. Her sweat had cooled and in the brisk evening air, her t-shirt wasn’t enough to cut it. Picking up the pace to get to the dorm faster, she saw a familiar car coming down the road, some song muffled through the windows but still entirely too loud.

The driver of the car must have seen her, too, and Poe pulled up to the curb and rolled down the window, allowing Rey to hear Natasha Bedingfield’s _Unwritten_ clearly.

“Wanna lift?” he grinned. “I’m going to cash in on Burritamigo’s seven o’clock taco deal. You look like you just worked out and could use some muscle fuel.”

Rey hesitated. She had already eaten dinner, and she did still want to shower. Plus, that essay.

“I’ll pay for yours, too.”

Rey slid into the passenger’s side and buckled her seatbelt as _Unwritten_ faded out and _Pocketful of Sunshine_ began to play. “Let’s go.”

As Poe tried to find a parking spot, Rey’s memory was triggered out of nowhere.

“So, Finn tells me you asked him to go see Galactic Battles with him?” Her grin was wide enough to eat whatever was about to come out of Poe’s mouth.

“Yeah? And what’s up with that? I would rather die than be the sad guy sitting alone in the theatre. You know, there’s this psychological thing that says you enjoy things more when it’s a shared experience, and since it’s probably going to be a disappointing movie I want to make it more worth my time.”

“Ah, yeah, Finn probably told you all about it. But do you remember the name of the book I was texting you about three days ago?”

Poe’s silence spoke for itself. “Be quiet or I’m rescinding my offer to pay for your tacos.”

“That’s cheating!”

“What am I cheating at? As far as I’m aware there are no rules for car ride conversations.” He pulled into a space and rushed out of the car to avoid Rey’s reply.

Rey waited until she had fallen into step with him to bless him with her retort. “Well, the first rule so far is you cannot retract an offer after it’s already been accepted. I’m going to write it down and tape it on your dashboard.”

“When?”

“In the night while you sleep.”

“How?”

“I have my ways.”

Poe eyed Rey warily. “But my car, my rules.”

“That’s not very communist of you now is it?”

“Unlike _you_ , I am a proud American and Capitalist. I will die before our joint ownership of my car allows you to set _car conversation rules_.”

“Then perish, I guess.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was literally no reason why I had to flex Oramata like that, but you know what I wanted to fit in as many things as I could from another fic I discontinued. Assume that Oramata had a blast catching up with the guys from Haikyuu at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Let me have this, please and thank you.
> 
> The more we go along the more crack-ish this fic gets, so let me know if you want me to eliminate any semblance of plot to make this a full on crack fic. Or maybe you didn't like it? I mean I'd hoped that you would enjoy this attempt at humor, but if you didn't at least I made myself laugh. All comments and suggestions are appreciated and I like replying to them.
> 
> Anyways, love you chicoritas! I hope you have the privilege to listen to some Natasha Bedingfield in the near future and continue to support the BLM movement for making it this far. Educate, donate, participate! As far as I'm aware, you should request your mail-in ballots right about now if you're in the US to get them in time!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My guys, we are out here! Having a blast! Having a good time! It hasn't been a month, and I take that as a win!
> 
> I don't think I have much to say here aside from my only exposure to DnD is through the random post that pops up occasionally on social media and Watcher's Social Distancing & Dungeons & Dragons, so when we get more into this plot line feel free to correct any of my inaccuracies. On things aside from DnD, too, if you see them!
> 
> Shoutout to the Gorls and I hope you enjoy this chapter! Things are starting to pick up a bit!  
> ~~flapdoodle

Rey honestly had no clue what to expect when it came to helping Kylo Ren with his campaign, a guy she had had a total of two interactions with, only one of which being in person. Just in case, she brought along some assorted supplies and homework, along with her copy of “Orestes.” You could never be too prepared.

The university library wasn’t a particularly tall building, but the way it sprawled next to the quad still allowed it to loom over the students enjoying their weekend outside. According to a tour guide she had overheard once, it was one of the oldest buildings on campus, and every time she stepped inside she was reminded of that fact by the lovely smell of old that greeted her. The books were old, the furniture was old, and the librarian working the checkout counter was old.

Kylo Ren stuck out like a sore thumb amongst all of the old with his sleek black and silver helmet and dark robes. Seeing him here must be a regular occurrence since nobody was sparing him a second glance; if anything, it was Rey approaching him that drew some suspicious gazes.

“Hello. I booked a private study room, if that’s fine with you. It’ll minimize the amount of people that see you with me and give us the opportunity to talk freely without being overheard.” His voice was still distorted, eliminating all emotion or tone Rey might have been able to pick up.

“Yeah, that sounds good. Sorry, I forgot about the whole secret identity thing your group has, should I have worn a mask or something?”

“You’re fine for now. If we do this again you’ll definitely need something, and if you want to help me at the actual session. It’s not uncommon for me to be seen working with others on one-off occasions, so being together right now isn’t a problem,” Kylo reassured as he led her to the study room. He opened the door for her, and immediately Rey felt like she had walked into the aftermath of a hurricane. The central table was covered in random piles of paper, notebooks, sketches, and laminated reference sheets. “I know it looks like a mess, but there’s a system.” Despite the way it was distorted, Rey could pick up the slightest traces of sheepishness in his voice.

“It’s fine. Are you going to explain all of this to me or not?” Rey asked, plopping down in one of the chairs and setting her stuff down on the floor beside her.

Kylo pulled out the chair across from her. “I suppose I should explain the world first, and then how the characters fit into it. I just got the official character sheets the other day, so it is possible for us to take some of their backstories into consideration.”

From there, Kylo launched into a very long-winded explanation of the world he had built, its unusual magic system, how space travel would be incorporated, the different planets, and how he had twisted the original DnD content to fit the non-fantasy setting.

“You know that there’s also the physical aspect, right? Basically, if you roll a five or less, you can opt to challenge and try to perform better in real life than your character did and use that result instead. That’s where Machai and Theios come in. They’re more or less gods in universe and can choose to help or hinder the progress of the party if they feel like it. Whenever somebody challenges in a battle scenario, they’re fighting one of those two. They set the difficulty for all of the other checks and challenges, too, based on what the situation requires. I don’t know if you’ve ever played video games against a computer before, but it’s kind of like how you set the computer to easy, medium, or hard, with the computer in this scenario either being the skill level they fight with or the course or target or what have you. I’m not sure if that makes sense, but you’ll probably have the chance to see it in action.”

“Where does this actually take place?” Rey asked. “It sounds like it requires a lot more space than what I’ve heard DnD takes up.”

“We actually bring a big table and some chairs into one of the gyms. Machai and Theios bring whatever supplies they might need for the challenges and set it up in there.”

“Interesting. Is there more or is that enough background to start working on the campaign?” Rey was itching to go. It was plain to see that this was Kylo Ren’s passion project; even though his energy was muffled, it was still infectious.

“Yes. The first problem is trying to find a reason why all of those characters are in the same place on the same planet in the first place. You can see on the character sheets that their histories are pretty diverse, and so are their motivations.”

“Space jail?” Rey suggested.

“Space jail…?”

“The first arc or whatever is that they all need to break out of space jail together, or whatever the equivalent is. Maybe it doesn’t even need to be jail, but they all got caught somewhere they don’t want to be. These guys all seem like they might get caught on the wrong side of the law, and it’s a bit easier to force them together like that than if they’re somehow all in one random bar or something.”

“That’s...not a bad idea. I did want it to start off on Coruscant so they have the opportunity to get supplies and stuff before setting out. What if they all angered some crime family? Like they all got tangled up with the mafia, and they’re being held before their fates are decided. There’s a lot more potential plotlines you could get out of that.”

“I like that. Your three core knights can all be a part of some bounty hunting group that failed to deliver or something, and rogues are thieves, right? So it would make sense if they got in trouble for scamming the mob. And the monk, oh I don’t know, didn’t pay for protection or something.” Rey was just spitballing, but Kylo was dutifully writing down a summary of everything she said.

“The characters get to come up with their own explanations for why they’re in the situation they’re in, so you don’t need to worry about that too much.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“It’s not a problem; you didn’t know. Now, do we want them to try and escape or do we want the crime family to send them off on some impossible quest? In theory, they could refuse, and then they’d have to escape either way, so we’d better prepare for that eventuality. With the Trudgen-Vicrul combination in this party, I’m anticipating a lot of improv. They tend to throw everything off.” Kylo let out a heaving sigh, indicating that they were probably the reasons behind the redirection of many carefully planned adventures. Rey was curious to know just how badly things had gone in the past, but she didn’t want this session to get off course as much as those campaigns had.

“So we’ll need plans down to Z, got it. I say we try to get them to accept a deal from this crime family to hunt down the god-tier creature you were talking about being your final boss. Tracking down the creature could probably be a good deal of effort if we make it convoluted enough.”

Kylo hummed in agreement. “Why don’t I pull out my map and we can connect the dots?”

Before Rey knew it, an hour had passed and they had the rough basis for a whole campaign. She hadn’t even realized that so much time had gone by with the way she had been caught up in the thrill of seeing a story come to light. She and Kylo naturally fed upon each other’s ideas, speeding up the process with endless new propositions for sneaky plot twists.

“You know, by myself it would’ve taken many more hours to figure this much out, so thank you for that,” Kylo said after they had agreed to call it a day, satisfied with where they had left off.

“You’re welcome, I had fun. Do we need to do this again before the meetings start to wrap up the loose ends?”

“Preferably. This group’s first session is two weeks from today. We could do this again next Saturday, if you can, and I can do whatever else needs to get done outside of that time. You just need to create your own identity for that. It doesn’t need to be as elaborate as the other characters, if you don’t want it to be. Just the costume, a name, and a few key personality traits, really.”

“OK. I think I have a quiz that next Monday, but I can just study for it on Sunday. So same time next week?”

“Yeah, sounds good. This room is reserved for another half hour since I didn’t know how long it would take, so feel free to use it. I don’t like to spend more time in this helmet than I have to, so I’m going to go change out of it. I’ll see you around. Thanks again for the help.” Kylo tucked the last few folders into his bag and headed towards the door.

“Oh, bye, then,” Rey said, book already in hand. She would finish a couple of scenes from “Orestes” and then she would work on that pre-lab she was dreading. If she had this quiet space, she may as well take advantage of it.

\----------

Rose was working on her own homework when Rey returned to the dorm, pre-lab half completed. After Rey closed the door, Rose looked up with a smile. “Hey! How’d it go?”

“I’d say it went pretty well. I had fun, we got a lot done. Oh, by the way, whenever you have time this week, I might need to take you up on your offer of helping me with the character creation thing for the Knights of Ren. I have no idea how I’m going to pull a costume together,” Rey said.

Rose perked up at that. “Really? Oh my God, just let me finish this thing I’m working on, and then we’ll go steal Poe’s car and go to the nearest thrift store.”

Rey was taken aback by Rose’s excitement. “Sure. I have to finish a pre-lab either way, so whenever you’re ready, I guess. If you’ve got a lot of stuff to do, I don’t want to interrupt your work flow, though.”

“Please, you’re not interrupting anything. I need a break, I’ve been working on this stupid project since lunch. After I finish this section, I’ll be way ahead of schedule and we’ll be good to go. Just give me a half hour.”

“Sure. I don’t think that we’ll be able to steal Poe’s car, though, since he’s probably using it to take Finn on their not-a-date.”

“Ah, yes, the not-a-date. I heard about that. It’s been what, less than a whole month? And they’re already skirting feelings. Imagine having a requited crush,” Rose said, sighing dramatically. “The faster they get together the faster they can establish their position as campus power couple, so it’s kinda nice if you think about it. Why don’t we take a bet? Five dollars says this is the incident that sparks a long and loving relationship.”

“So I get five dollars if this is the beginning of painful two-sided pining between them? I’ll take that bet. There’s no way they’re that self-aware. Finish up your thing, though, so we can get going.”

“You don’t have any faith in them. My inner hopeless romantic is incredibly optimistic. But fine, fine, I guess I’ll finish this section.”

Once Rey had completed her pre-lab and Rose her section, they headed off to the nearest thrift store. After Rey was subjected to a deluge of questions, they had a general feel for Rey’s character. The Scavenger would be a stoic, silent type, with a biting wit whenever she did deem it necessary to comment. It was different enough from Rey’s usual personality to not be immediately recognizable but not such a drastic change as to be hard to maintain.

Personality in mind, the two girls wandered the aisles, trying to find a suitable outfit.

“Rey! Come look at these goggles! We could probably find a scarf and do some macgyvering to make you a mask with these,” Rose said, waving an arm towards her. “Like, a headwrap kinda thing that you would use to protect yourself from sand in the desert.”

“I don’t know why anybody would want these in the first place, but they’ll work for the costume. I found these gardening gloves, too, they look kinda scavenger-ish.”

“Let’s head over to the actual clothing section and see if we can find anything there for the base.”

Somewhat miraculously, they managed to find some ⅞ length capris and a loose long sleeved shirt, and all they were left with were some of the extra embellishments.

“Should we get you some fun boots, too?” Rose asked as she considered the shoe section.

“If you try and find the scarf, I can look for the boots. It’ll be easier than you trying to find something to fit me.”

Rey left the thrift store twenty minutes later up one costume and with an intact wallet since Rose had insisted on paying, no matter how much Rey had argued with her. She was thrilled with how it had all turned out, thanking whatever higher powers there were that they had managed to pull something like this together after perusing only one store. After all, why stop at five or six stores when you could just stop at one?

As soon as they got back into their dorm, Rose shoved the bag into Rey’s arms and urged her to try it on, which she did without complaint.

It was definitely a good disguise. Her face and figure were covered in swathes of tan and beige fabric, over the shirt and pants of a similar color. The goggles didn’t impede Rey’s vision as much as she thought they would, and the boots were comfortable enough to spend a few hours in.

“I’d say that you look like a scavenger, Scavenger,” Rose said, pride filling her voice.

“Thank you. It was really all you, you know. I wouldn’t have been able to pull this off without your help.” Rey would have to do something to make it up to Rose; she couldn’t just let her friend do something so nice without doing something just as good in return.

“Save it, you’ve already thanked me, like, a hundred times already. If anything, you gave me an excuse to go shopping and have a fun time, so thank you. Man, I cannot get over how good it looks! You could go to some convention and everybody would give you compliments even though they wouldn’t know what you’re cosplaying as.”

“I could probably just tell them my DnD character, even though it’s not technically a DnD character since Scavenger isn’t actually in the game.”

“That is true,” Rose nodded sagely, flopping down onto her bed. “Do people usually cosplay as their DnD characters?”

“Don’t ask me. Even though I am dressed in cosplay right now, I’ve never been to a convention before. I don’t think I’m that kind of person.”

“But you are now! I wonder if Kylo Ren takes all of his little Knights to ComicCon like kindergarteners on field trips.”

“From what little I’ve actually heard about the knights, they are more or less toddlers in the bodies of football players and mixed martial artists, so I think that would be an apt description of what it would be like if they did. I think I’m going to change out of this, now,” Rey said, taking off the goggles and allowing all of the fabric it had held in place to fall on her shoulders.

Rose sat back up with some sudden epiphany. “Oh, wait, I was gonna ask if we should send pics of your fit to Poe and Finn, but we need to keep your identity a secret, right? I mean, they’ll probably figure it out eventually since they know you’re getting involved with this, but it’ll be more fun to see how quickly they realize on their own.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure if you knowing is even allowed, so that’s probably the right call.”

“Got it,” Rose sang, “but don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me. Ooh, you’re kinda like a superhero with a secret identity! With great power comes great responsibility, and all that jazz.”

“I don’t know if being a DM assistant is really that much power, but sure. All that jazz.”

Rey changed out of her costume and settled back in to finish up some more homework. The air between her and Rose was comfortable, broken only by the occasional question. As she scanned a passage for a quote she wanted to reference, her eye was caught when her phone lit up from an incoming call. The caller ID made Rey frown.

“Hey, Finn, what’s up?” Rey said as she picked up. Rose shot her a concerned glance. Rey just shrugged.

“ _Hey, uh, would you mind if I dropped by?_ ”

Rey mouthed to Rose, _can he come over?_

Rose mouthed back, _of course!_

“Yeah, sure, Rose said she’s cool with it. I’ll unlock the door.” Rey tried to convey the many questions and concerns filling her mind through her voice.

Finn didn’t answer any of them. “ _Cool. I’ll be there in a few._ ” With that, Finn hung up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof ouch! A cliffhanger! What do you think happened! There's so many possibilites, and I'm probably going to disappoint you! I guess we're heading into a StormPilot arc, chicoritas! Who woulda thunk it? Certainly not me!
> 
> This is the tenth chapter, and it's pretty wild that we got this far if I do say so myself. Feel free to let me know if you've been enjoying this ride! As I've probably said before, I have no idea what's going to happen, so if there's anything you might want to see feel free to let me know. Any and all comments might just be the inspiration to get my writing juices flowing!
> 
> Anyways, love you chicoritas! You deserve to understand the reference to five or six stores that I made in this chapter, so take [this](https://youtu.be/7T1OHha9agg). 10/10, would recommend. Remember that Black lives continue to matter! Do your best to make positive change, even the smallest action helps!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh, hi. There's bad news if you're a fan of this fic: it's going on hiatus! Even if I did have time to write, it is literally the last thing I want to write because I cornered myself into a bad writing style, I have little direction, and I am more interested in other things. The soonest it would possibly be back would be for the fic's one year anniversary in January, but I doubt that since I have Love You Madly, my favorite child. There are still scenes I want to write, but they're just so far away in the story and I have no motivation to get there, so this fic probably isn't going to die. If it does, whoops, my bad.
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Shoutout to the gorls as always and I'll see you at the bottom!
> 
> ~~flapdoodle

Finn arrived at Rey and Rose’s dorm panicked and bedraggled. As soon as he entered he fell onto Rey’s bed and stuffed his face into the pillow, not soothing any of the girls’ worries.

“Are you gonna tell us what’s up?” Rose asked, administering a few test pokes to Finn’s side to make sure he hadn’t accidentally suffocated himself.

“Nothing’s wrong, there’s just absolutely no way I am physically able to sleep in the same room as Poe after whatever _that_ just was,” Finn said.

“Are you gonna tell us what ‘that’ was?” Rose continued to pester, pokes becoming a little less inquiring and a little more insistent.

“Yeah, did something bad happen?” If only he would just spit it out so that Rey didn’t have to worry about the possible what-ifs.

“Not... bad, necessarily? I just don’t think I’m able to sleep in the same room as him now. It was just so date-y,” Finn groaned, sliding off of the bed to form a crumpled heap on the ground. “I swear I might even think he might be interested in me, too. Like, wow. The movie was fine, maybe I looked at him too much and maybe I thought I saw him looking at me, but then dinner radiated these unbearable date vibes? But he didn’t say anything, so I didn’t say anything, and then he drove back and as we were walking back up I panicked and invited myself over here because I realized that I would have to spend more time with him, and I just could not.”

“Well, I don’t know much about relationships and people’s feelings in general, but I have read a lot of books, and in situations like this people always think they’ve done something wrong when their love interest runs off like this,” Rey said. “So go talk to him and work it out.”

“Here’s the thing about that, though. He might be my love interest, but I’m pretty sure I’m not his, so if I make it seem like I want something more with him then I’ll just make it weird, which will be emotionally exhausting, and I’ll have to get a new roommate, which also sounds emotionally exhausting.”

“Finn, babe, didn’t you literally just say that you might even think that he might be interested in you too? Suck it up. Go talk to him,” Rose said, patting him on the head.

“Yeah, and if you don’t do it willingly, we’ll drag you over there ourselves,” Rey agreed.

“I’d like to see you try.”

After sharing a glance, Rey grabbed Finn’s arms while Rose grabbed his legs. Together, they hoisted him out the door before he managed to squirm enough to get out of their grasp, landing on his back.

Brushing himself off, Finn glared at them. “Unnecessary.”

“We had to prove the point,” Rose said as Rey nodded along.

“Fine. I’ll go talk to him. If it makes you feel better, escort me there to make sure I don’t run away.”

“I think we just might,” Rey said, linking her arm in Finn’s before Rose got the hint to do the same with his other arm.

Together, they took Finn to his dorm. Rey used her free hand to knock on the door as Finn accepted his fate, going slack between his two friends.

“You know, I’ve never had friends who hate me so much,” Finn whined, just as Poe opened the door.

“Don’t worry, you’ll thank us for it later,” Rose grinned, shoving Finn towards Poe as both girls pulled their arms away. Rose closed the door in front of them and dusted off her hands. “Well, that was fun. Hopefully we didn’t accidentally ruin it all for them. Anyways, I think I heard there’s people playing cards in the common area. Wanna go?”

“Yeah, why not?”

It seemed to be a casual gathering with a lot of people Rey recognized from around the dorm building in attendance. She didn’t think she saw any of the few people she knew, though, which was a shame since she would have to stick with Rose, who wouldn’t want to stick with her because she was a social butterfly. For the moment, though, Rey was content to take a seat on one of the couches and get dealt into a game of Uno that was just starting out.

As the last call was made for participants in the Uno game, Rey felt a weight settle into the couch to her other side.

“Deal me in, Beaumont,” Jyn said, crossing her legs lazily as she waited for her hand to be dealt to her. “Hey, Rey. What’s up?”

“I didn’t know you lived in this building,” Rey said as she looked over her hand. A lot of yellow and red, which wasn’t a lot of use.

“Yeah, it’s easier than an apartment off campus. Besides, I wouldn’t want to miss out on floor bonding nights like this, would I? It’s a nice way to meet people and get to know the ones you already know better.”

Rose played her card, and newly freed of needing to think, she turned her attention to Jyn. “I see you two already know each other? I’m Rose, Rey’s roommate.”

“Cool. I’m Jyn. Rey, it’s your turn.”

“Yeah, I know. Gimme another second,” Rey said, considering whether or not it mattered if she used her red seven or red four. Eventually she decided that it probably didn’t matter and played the four.

Jyn went afterwards without hesitating, turning back to the conversation. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around. What’re you studying, Rose?”

“Mechanical engineering,” Rose replied, “and what about you?”

“I’m a history major. Makes sense that I wouldn’t see you around the buildings I’m always at. I don’t think I know what you’re studying either, Rey.”

Rey gave her standard response of “undecided,” with her standard explanation of the two options she was tossing between. It made sense that people would want to know, but she was getting tired of telling them. Maybe her desire for a shorter response would be her impetus to declare her major.

“Nice, nice. That’s cool too. Here, lemme just-” Jyn played a reverse, forcing Rey to start drawing cards.

“Damn you, Jyn,” Rey grumbled, drawing card after card. “Who shuffled this deck, anyways.”

“That would be Beaumont,” Jyn said, “so really this is all his fault. No hard feelings, right?”

“Oh, there are absolutely hard feelings. It’s only like two rounds in and I already have half the deck. Rose, your go.”

“C’mon, it’s too early to fight. Also, don’t hurt Beaumont, he did his best. It’s not anybody’s fault, it’s all in the heart of the cards or something,” Rose said.

“Of course, of course,” Jyn nodded. “I would know. I have long been the cards’ master in this dorm.”

A few chimes of agreement resounded from around the table.

“Hm, well, we’ll see,” Rose smiled.

Rey’s spine tingled with apprehension. Why did she have to be the one sitting between them? Though that smile did not bode well for the rest of the players, Jyn seemed to take it in stride.

“We’ll see, indeed. Beaumont, you gonna play a card or what?”

“Just gimme a sec, geez, Jyn.”

“We’ve been waiting for at least a minute, Beaumont,” Rose chided.

“Fine, fine. I’ll go.”

Jyn nudged Rey with a shoulder. “Hm. Your friend’s pretty cool, even if she does think she can beat me.”

“I’m literally right here, y’know. C’mon, stop flirting with Rey and go, already.”

Oh, had Jyn been flirting with her? That was...unprecedented. Rey was pretty sure that Rose was just joking, and if not then misinterpreting Jyn's banter, since there was no way that somebody as cool as Jyn would ever like Rey like that. Rey was a disaster and there wasn’t anything that interesting about her that would draw anybody to her. Honestly, she was just lucky to have as many friends as she did already, but who knew when they would realize that there really was no benefit to having her as a friend. For now, though, she would make the best of their ignorance.

Rey played her card, and Rose followed up immediately after, still smirking deviously. “Everything is all going according to plan.”

“Is it, now? You know, Rosie, you don’t have a good poker face,” Jyn said, eyeing her own hand.

“I don’t need to have a good poker face. I just need a good Uno face,” Rose retorted, shutting Jyn up effectively. “And everybody knows I have that, and the heart of the cards on my side.”

“Rey, do me a solid and change the color when it’s your turn next?” Jyn asked as she slapped her card onto the pile.

“Why didn’t you do it?”

“Oh, I only want to sabotage Rose. You haven’t done anything to wrong me, like challenge my reigning Uno championship over this dorm.”

“Rey, don’t listen to her. We’re friends, right?”

“I will play whatever card I can. It just turned out to be this one,” Rey said.

Rose’s face split into another chilling grin as she saw the new color. “Oh, you’ve activated my trap card!” she crowed before playing a reverse.

As Rey went again, she could feel Jyn glowering to one side and Rose preening on the other.

“Aww, does somebody not have any green cards? Too bad, sucks not having the cards on your side, huh?” Rose giggled.

“Beaumont, you suck ass at shuffling. You’re no longer the official shuffler.”

The rest of the players, most of whom had also been wronged at some point by Beaumont’s shuffling, voiced their support to Jyn’s decree.

By the time Jyn found a card that she could play, her deck had acquired at least half of the draw pile. Jyn sat, mumbling about the statistic probabilities of needing to draw that many cards, while Rey kinda felt bad.

As each person around the table played their card, Rey could feel Rose’s excitement building, before she finally declared, “Blue Card, Eight Number!” and played her card. “Uno!”

That spurred another round of groans, the loudest of which came from Jyn. “Don’t get so cocky. The cards might decide to punish you with a Draw Four for your hubris.”

“Well, ‘punish’ is an interesting choice of words.” However, Rose refused to explain herself until it became her turn again. “Jyn, I would prefer to say, ‘bless’ or ‘bestow.’” With a grand flourish, she placed her final card, indeed a Draw Four, and won the game. “Now that’s what I call the heart of the cards, baby! Suck it! I’m the new champion of Uno!”

“I admit defeat. My throne has been usurped. I must leave in dishonor,” Jyn sighed, getting up. “See you fools later.” She slapped Rey’s shoulder before taking her leave, Rey watching her back as she joined another small group.

“Actually, we should probably go, too, Rey. Finn might need emotional support,” Rose said, following after her new nemesis.

“Or he already be getting it from Poe.”

“I’d place my bets on that one.”

They made their way over to Finn and Poe’s dorm. Rey took it as a good sign that nobody was sitting outside.

“Wait, stay here,” Rose said, sneaking up to the door. She pressed her ear against it, before quickly retreating. “Yeah, they’re having a sappy heart-to-heart. Let’s get outta here.”

“Sounds good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the support you've already given me! After I post this there's a high chance I'll cross 1,000 hits, which is very cool! Hopefully I'll see you in the future, even if it is just a 15,000 word one-shot-esque chapter in Ben's POV in like three years. Fingers crossed that won't be the case, though.
> 
> Anyways, love you chicoritas! I hope you find many other good fics to read for making it this far! This sounds like goodbye but it (probably) won't be forever!

**Author's Note:**

> Y’all guess who finally got an Instagram! Feel free to talk to me [@_oof_ouch_ ](https://www.instagram.com/_oof_ouch_/)! I'm posting art and writing updates sometimes!


End file.
